


What Ghost?

by LexxieKra



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Character Death, Friendship, Ghosts, Morail authors, Multiple Authors, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-03-16 20:26:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 24
Words: 34,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3501728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexxieKra/pseuds/LexxieKra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kankri enters a abandoned house on dare of his friends, where he meets the mysterious Cronus Ampora.  The pair become friends quickly, but will Kankri find himself deeper in this family's mysteries than he intended?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A strange encounter

You sat with your back to the wall in a corner of a long, dark hallway in an even darker house. A few choice words flitted across your mind as you thought back to how you got in this situation. Rufio mostly, who had dared you to enter the long abandoned home and stay there until midnight. Wrapping one arm around your knees to pull them closer to yourself, you flung the other arm over your head as you rested it against the top of your knees. You had taken the dare, and within minutes found yourself lost in one of the many dark corridors. Pulling out your phone, you unlocked it and squinted against the sudden brightness, 11:43 you sigh slightly relief, it was almost midnight. You frowned at the battery symbol that flashed an ugly red exclamation point at you, alerting you to it’s 3% Status. As long as nothing is open, it should be fine you thought to yourself as you adjusted your headphones, your music so loud it hurt your ears a little. again, you thought you saw something, squinted into the darkness. A few minutes passed and you rested your head again on your knees.   
~~

On the edge of sleep, you jump and let out a small squeak sound of surprise when you heard a loud CRASH echoing from a distance. Your phone had died and your music had stopped, pulling your earbuds and shoving them into your hoodie pocket, you stared down the hallway. What the hell was that crash? an animal, you hoped to yourself. The thought of not being alone in the dark mansion made you more afraid than being lost and alone. Clamping your hands down over your ears, you tried to calm down. Taking deep breaths, you froze with fear and hid your face in your knees when a light appeared down the hall. casting shadows on the wall as the footsteps made small sounds on the floor. They neared closer and your heart felt like it was stuck in your throat. You jumped again and full out screamed when a hand gently touched your shoulder.   
“Are you okay?” said a voice softly, the odd accent causing you to look up. In the light of what you now noticed was a candelabra filled with lit candles, was the face of a guy. He couldn’t be much older than you, you noticed as you took in the violent shade of deep sea purple eyes, and sitting above his right eye sat a set of funny looking scars. Realizing you had been staring, and also realizing that you probably looked like a scared rabbit, you turned your head away and wiped the tears off your face with your hoodie sleeve. Taking a deep breath, you turned back to him and with the panic subsiding, you got a better look at the strange man's appearance. The way he was dressed reminded you of a character from a book, dark jeans, white t shirt and leather jacket, his hair slicked back and a tiny silver hoop in his ear. You stared at him again until the word came swimming back through your memory. Greaser. He smiled at you and you flushed when you realized you had said the word aloud. Shrugging out of his jacket, he sat it on the ground next to you and he sat on it. Setting the candelabra in front of the two of you, he stretched and you got a decent look at the full sleeve of tattoos that ran down his left arm.   
“So, what are you doing here?” he asked, staring at you expectantly.   
“I..I” you winced at the stutter, turning instead to stare at the wall. You launched into an explanation of how you came to be in your little moping corner, internally praising yourself when you only briefly stuttered. He listened through without interruption, but he did raise his eyebrows at you when you explained that you were in this situation due to a dare. 

Feeling comfortable enough, you turned towards him, adjusting so your back was against the other wall and you were facing him.   
“So why are you here?” you asked, when he didn’t answer you swept your hand to gesture towards the house. he chuckled lightly and leaned his head against the wall.   
“That, in general, is a very long story, Chief. but I hang out here a lot” he said, closing his eyes for a minute and you thought he had fallen asleep when the candle stubs burned out. Flickering out, the last bit of light struggled to stay up and you and him were both plunged into darkness again. It was then that he light another candle, wedging it into the old wax before it dried. A moment of silence passed before he chuckled again and began telling you a story about his younger brother, which turned out to be quite funny. You two swapped stories for the better part of a few hours when you glanced down the hallway, expecting to see the starting rays of sunlight when it struck you that this hallway had no windows. Just an endless sea of black. Noticing your confusion, your conversation partner stood and cupping the candle holder in one hand, he offered you his free hand. You frowned at the outstretched limb

“C’mon chief” he spoke aloud, his voice instantly soothing some of your nerves.   
“Where are we going?” you asked, not reaching for his hand nor moving from your spot against the wall.   
“You’ll see” You crossed your arms over your chest and narrowed your eyes at him  
“I don’t even know your name” Your statement seemed to take the boy by surprise, he crouched so his stance was even with yours, again, extending his hand.   
“Name’s Cronus” he smiled at you, sliding your hand into his, you shook it slightly.   
“Kankri Vantas” you replied, you could see him mouthing the name silently. Turning it over on his tongue and getting a handle on pronouncing it. Standing up and pulling you with him, so both of you were standing. He released your hand and started to back slowly towards one end of the hallway.   
“Are you coming, Kankri?” his smile lingered in the fading light longer than he did, you followed after him. After walking for an unknown amount of time, you began to feel a little claustrophobic in the short, dark hallways, he led you through several sets of doors before you recognized the large great hall . On one side sat the large front door, the windows on each side showing the sky outside was starting to lighten. directly opposite sat a broad staircase that led upwards and to each side of the house, set slightly back farther were doors that you figured led to other rooms or downstairs. You went to grab for the handle when you remembered Cronus, turning with a thank you formed on your lips, you found yourself to be entirely alone. You quickly left the house and even shut the door a little harder than you had meant to, the slam echoing across the silent morning like a gunshot. Wincing, you picked your way through the tall grass and walked the path that served as a road to where you had attended the party the previous night. Finding your car, You drove home in the rising sunlight, your thoughts miles behind you , with a strange greaser with a strange accent.


	2. Drawn out thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cronus and Kankri have a hard time getting the other out of their heads

CRO POV

You stepped out into the dimly lit hallway and shut your bedroom door behind you, you couldn’t handle sitting still anymore. You started pacing back and forth along the corridor, talking aloud.   
“He wvon’t be back, they nevwer come back” You paused and stared down a dusty picture hanging on the wall, a corner of it missing and part of the glass shattered.   
“But none of them evwer asked my name before either” running a hand through your hair, you sighed and leaned against the wall. You shook your head, trying to shake out the thoughts of him and you failed.   
“what a strange kid” and the sentence had you stop for a minute, was he a kid? he looked like a kid. You were startled out of this train of thought by a shove, Your cousin Meenah passing by you with a glare.   
“Watch where you stand, will ya. only so much glubbin hallway” she took a few steps before turning back around, taking in the expression on your face.  
“What’s wrong Cro?” she smiled and for a second you thought it was a legitimate question before she continued with   
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost” and then she was gone, her cackling laugh remained.   
“Very funny Meenah” you laughed sarcastically. Returning to your pacing, you did all you could to get the thoughts of Kankri Vantas out of your head. Still failing miserably.

KANKRI POV  
“Kanny, Are you positive you weren’t dreaming?” Porrim said gently after you had finished detailing the events of the previous night.   
“Yes Porrim, I am Positive” you said defensively.   
“I’m sorry Kanny, but it does sound a little far fetched” slamming your textbook shut you slid it into your bag and stood up from the table, preparing to walk away when a jacket covered arm slung itself over your shoulders. You jumped slightly, and turned your head to glare at it’s owner.   
“Hey Kanny, we had started to wonder if you hadn’t gotten lost in there” he smiled at you, adding a ‘hey doll’ when Porrim stood up. she waved as she marched away, probably to go catch up with Meulin before class. you sidestepped out from under Rufio’s arm, letting it fall to his side.   
“I did get lost, thank you very much” gathering your bag again, you turned and headed for the school you Passed Damara on the way, who was deep in signing conversation with Kurloz, both stopped to wave before resuming their argument. 

 

\-----

It was the end of the day and you sat on the wall outside the middle school, awaiting your brother Karkat. You flipped idly through the book you were holding, your attention still on Cronus. You hadn’t seen him anywhere at lunch, or walking around the hallways. You had asked Damara, she knew everybody, but she didn’t know him. You sighed, shoving your book back into your bag, you wish you knew his last name, you could ask Karkat if he knew his younger brother. Cronus said they where around the same age. You hadn’t noticed Karkat emerge from the building until him and his friend stood in front of you.   
“ith your brother okay, kk?” his friend asked, Karkat leaned up and waved his hand in front of your face, snapping you out of your thoughts. For the second time today, you jumped.   
“Hey douchenozzle, are we gonna get walking or what?” he asked you as you slid down from the wall. Pulling your bag onto your back.   
“Language Karkat, and hello Sollux” you greeted the boys before starting to walk in the direction of your house.   
“Tuna thaid I could come over” Sollux informed you as he walked beside Karkat, resuming an earlier conversation, you let your thoughts wander back to Cronus. He did say he hung out at the old mansion a lot..Maybe you should go back, see if he’s okay. You never did get the chance to thank him for helping you out last night. You decided to return later tonight, hoisting your bag higher on your back. Ignoring the small bundle of nervousness that had formed in your gut.   
Your thoughts were once again interrupted by Karkat’s voice, this time calling your name from a distance back.   
“Kankri, are you coming home??” he yelled, you realized you had walked past your house. Walking back you followed Karkat across the street to where sollux already stood in front of your house. It was going to be a long night.


	3. Just wanted to say thanks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kankri returns to the house were he has met Cronus, only to discover there are more people to befriend. or run away from.

It was almost midnight when you shut your bedroom door behind you, you creeped down the hall, you heard your father snoring from his room as you passed. Making it down the stairs, You glanced in the living room to see Karkat and Sollux asleep in a pile of blankets. The menu screen of one of karkat’s romcoms played on repeat, leaving a glow in the dark room. Slipping through the kitchen and out the back door, you shut it quietly behind you and waited for some sign of life from the quiet house. When nothing stirred and no light appeared, you hopped down from the porch and retrieved your car from the garage, putting in reverse and slowly backing it out onto the street before starting it. You never had really approved of sneaking out, but suddenly you were thankful for how much hanging out with Damara had worn off on you. The drive to mansion took a little under a half an hour and before you could really think about what you were doing, you had put it in park and shut the motor off. Retrieving a flashlight from your backpack, you found your way onto the porch. Hesitating at the entrance door, you listened hard for any kind of sound.

Maybe he wasn’t here. You decided to just come back another night, a chill had swept over you and you felt like the darkness was watching you. you had made it down two of the front steps when you heard a voice call from inside. It didn’t sound close enough to be calling to you, and you couldn’t really make out what it said. returning to the door, you pushed it open and stepped inside the grand entrance hall. flicking on your flashlight, you let the soft beam fall around the room before you made your way towards the stairs. The voice had sounded like it came from upstairs.   
“Cronus?” you called, the only response was the soft creak as you mounted the first step. Calling out for Cronus again, you let out a small noise when a response came from behind you.   
“Wwhat you lookin for Cro for” The voice came from a little kid, he was short, arms crossed over his chest as he glared at you. 

“oh, uh. He’s my fri..why are you out this late?, do your parents know you're here?” you changed topic mid sentence, it dawning upon you that there was a little kid in a old house in the middle of the night. He opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off by Cronus’s voice sliding from the upper floor. Turning slightly you saw Cronus coming down the stairs, looking exactly the same as he had the night prior.   
“Eridan, vwhat are you doin? pesterin our guest like that” He stopped beside you, crossing his arms to match the pose you assumed was the younger brother he had told you about.   
“Guest? Hardly a guest, just bargin in here, uninvvited” He shifted his glare from you to Cronus as he laughed  
“And vwho said he was uninwvited, I inwvited him owver last night” throwing a wink in your direction, Eridan face twisted up in confusion. 

“Wwhat??? Cro, howw could you invvite someone like him, you’re--” his words were interrupted by a shrill voice coming from the opposite hallway.   
“Eridan!” the voice caused the three of you to start, all eyes shifted to the small girl standing in the hallway. A small stuffed fish in her hands, both Cronus and Eridan relaxed instantly at the sight of her. She looked younger than Eridan, with crazy curly hair and round purple eyes. She looked at you briefly before returning her attention to Eridan. 

“Eridan, you said you would come play wit)( me” she spoke, she put a deep emphasis on her H, making the letter sound odd. holding up her stuffed fish in a gesture of ‘see?’. Eridan shot a glare over his shoulder as he walked towards her, she reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him along the hall. Your eyes went to Cronus, who watched the two children go. You peeked down the hall, you couldn’t see them anymore, but you could still hear them. There must be a door they went in that you just can’t see.

Turning to Cronus, you cleared your throat and waited for his attention to turn to you.   
“ahh, sorry chief, it’s strange to see either of them sometimes” he smiled at you, walking up the stairs and gesturing for you to follow. Walking up the stairs behind him, you turned your flashlight off and let your eyes adjust. He led you a few doors down before he opened the door and led you into a bedroom. It was a little dusty, but the walls were covered in drawings and the bed looked comfortable. He moved around the room, you settled yourself on the edge of the bed and waited for him. Staring at the drawings on the walls, you couldn’t make out any of them. Time had faded up the paper, some of them looked like what you guessed were lyrics or poems, several pages stuck together. Cronus settled beside you and stared at the papers as well  
“one of the kids vwho used to live here, vwas real into music.” he informed you, nodding towards what you had assumed were lyrics.   
“Wvas pretty good too, if you can make out wvhat they say”

 

You already knew you couldn’t, leaning back against the headboard.   
“is she your sister?” You asked, he sighed and leaned back on his elbows.   
“Nah, She’s my cousin. Eri is my brother, and Fef’s sister is floating around here somewhere” he chuckled as if a clever joke had just been passed around. You brushed it off and fiddled with your flashlight, attempting to give your hands something to do.   
“So why do you all hang out here? don’t your parents worry about you?” you questioned, a shocked look crossed his features before he smiled slightly at you. All of the confidence in his voice had drained out, leaving his words to come out in a whisper. 

 

“They nevwer really noticed vwe vwere gone, so it’s just us” You regretted asking, feeling awkward at the conversation. A deepening silence stretched out before Cronus sat up and rubbed lightly at the back of his neck.   
“So, vwhy did you come back?” he asked, and it was your turn to be surprised.   
Oh, um. why did you come back again.. you thought for a moment past the events that had occurred and remembered.   
“yes, I wanted to thank you for helping me last night, I probably would have been stuck here a lot longer if you hadn’t helped me” you explained, he just stared at you as he processed what you said.   
“wvait, thank me?” he blinked at you, trying to figure out if you were joking or not.   
“Well yes, who else would I have thanked?” 

“you came all the vway back here…..to thank me?” a stunned smile creeping on to his face, he pointed at himself   
“me?”   
“yes Cronus, it would have been rude of me not to thank you for your assistance. I didn’t get the opportunity to thank you properly last night, and I was going to do it at school but I could not find you in attendance, so i assume you went to a different school or perhaps you were homeschooled, no offense if you are, there’s nothing wrong with being homeschooled and i..” You continued to rant, you couldn’t help it. It was hard to stop once you got started. Your words trailed off as you took in the way Cronus was looking at you, amusement and awe in his face.   
“Sorry”you apologized, looking down towards your lap to hide the red shade your face had started turning.   
“It’s fine Kanny, it’s nice to hear someone talking besides Meenah for once”  
“Who’s Meenah?”

“Feferi’s sister, you don’t gotta vworry about her, she’s kinda a bitch”   
“Language Cronus” you said out of habit, to which he just softly laughed  
“You got it chief” he replied, sitting up he scooted into the middle of the bed. shrugging out of his jacket and tossing it to the chair beside the bed, again giving you a good view of his tattoos. You hadn’t noticed you were staring until with a soft laugh, Cronus tilted his arm so you could see the side and back.  
“You like em? I got em for my sixteenth birthday”   
“They are very nice, I didn’t mean to stare.. wait, how old are you?” He thought for a moment before he shrugged  
“Seventeen, roughly. what about you, thirteen or fourteen?” 

“I’m sixteen,I have been for three months now, thank you very much” he just stared at you again before he started laughing.   
“you’re not pullin my leg or anyfin, right Kanny? you’re really sixteen” You puffed up your cheeks  
“yes and i don’t see why that’s funny, i’m not much younger than you” you stated, crossing your arms over chest. this made him laugh even harder before he caught his breath.  
“You don’t look that old Kanny, I thought you wvere Eridan’s age” he laughed again, flopping backwards so he was flat on his back. Instead of answering, you stood up and made your way to the door. shoving it open, you huffed and returned to the room and grabbed your flashlight from it’s spot on the bed. You can hear Cronus still laughing, you shoot a glare to where he had been laying seconds ago to find empty blanket. there wasn’t even a wrinkle from where he had been sitting. Getting creeped out, you returned to the hallway. Bumping into a figure as you exited the room. You fell back and glared at the figure as you hit the floor, groping for your flashlight. 

“Very funny Cronus” You say as a chill goes down your spine when the figure laughs. A high pitched laugh that couldn’t belong to Cronus and was too old to be Feferi.   
“where ya goin guppy” you quickly stood up, brushing off your pants.   
“I was leaving, if you’ll excuse me. I have school in the morning and I need to get home.” you slide the switch on the light, the beam filling up the hallway. The girl was leaning against the wall, and as you tried to move past her, she stepped into your path.   
“that’s interestifin” She stepped aside, sneering slightly as you walked past. Glancing over your shoulder, she was gone. You bolted for the door, but you encountered feferi in the main hall.   
“Are you leaving already?” she called after you, pouting. You stopped with your hand on the door and stared at her. Unable to find your voice, you simply nodded. She frowned and glanced around, checking for anyone else.   
“Please come back, It’s been aw)(ile since I seen )(im smile like t)(at” You continued to stare at her, opening the door slightly and stepping onto the porch  
“O)(, and you can come back and play wit)( me!” she giggled as you shut the door. Running to your car, you stopped in your tracks when you approached, Cronus sat cross legged on your trunk.   
“I sea you met Meenah, Sorry about that” You didn’t move as he continued.   
“Are you gonna come back?” he questioned and you just started at the ground.   
“I..I might” you flinched at your own stutter, and when you looked up again He was gone. You got into your car and stared at the house as you pulled away. Trying to piece together what the hell you had gotten yourself into.


	4. Swimming with the fishes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! thanks to everyone for reading with us, I want to especially thank my Morail Mary, she's just as much the author of this baby as I am.  
> I may not be able to post for a while due to inclement situations, but as soon as I am able I will. In the meantime, I will get her to post chapters when she can, I'm sorry this is so short, it's leading up to the big -jazz hands- reveal in the next two chapters. Enjoy!  
> ~LexxieKra~

It was tuesday, and like every tuesday, You, Porrim, Rufio, Muelin and Damara went to the mall after school. Karkat went with Sollux to his house every tuesday so you wouldn’t have to walk him home, and despite his.. personality, you genuinely like Sollux's older brother Mituna. you had wandered around listening to the girls talk before you realized they had all departed into a store, leaving you and Rufio to stand outside. In attempt to avoid talking with him, you became very interested in a store’s front window. It was some kind of beach clothing store and you ducked inside, you had missed the beach, it wasn’t very far away but it was hard to get everyone free to go. Walking past a display of surfboards to a bin that had caught your eye, you smiled when you realized the soft shiny objects were stuffed toy fish. You dug around and pulled out what appeared to be a salmon, you weren't sure because of it’s bright violet color, and a pinkish cuttlefish. You walked towards the counter before going back and picking out a white puffer fish you thought Cronus would like. You would have gotten Meenah one, but you were trying to forget your meeting with her ever happened. You bought the three toys before wandering out to find the girls had joined Rufio in waiting for you. Porrim linked arms with you and steered your group towards the elevators, you liked the fish, and you thought they would too. Now you just had to get the courage up to go back. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CRO POV  
“Meenah” you tried again, but your cousin continued to ignore you. Sitting beside you on the balcony, both of you had your legs hanging off the edge and swinging.  
“)(e came back once, so why wouldn’t he again” she finally spoke to you. Sighing, you leaned back and stared at the pink that had begun to creep up the skyline. You started to hum one of your songs to yourself when Meenah scoffed at you  
“Don’t you ever get glubbin tired of the same songs, I know you wrote em and all, but damn” You shrugged and started singing, belting out the words to the silent yard. She rolled her eyes and got up, entering the house and disappearing from view. You heard the floor creak and Feferi’s face peeked out at you. She giggled when you motioned her forward, sitting where her sister sat, she let her legs dangle too, swinging them back and forth in the empty space below the balcony. She leaned against you and started singing too, she had always liked your music, and after being around you for so long, she knew every song you had written by heart. As the sunlight creeped higher and higher, Your voices died down and Feferi fell asleep slumped against you. Clutching the tiny grubby fish toy she always had. Scooping her up, you entered the balcony door that led into your room, laying her down on the bed and covering her up, you thought about Kankri again, you really did hope he came back.


	5. I don't believe I heard you properly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO'S READ, REVIEWED, KUDOS OR ANYFIN. YOU ARE FANTASTIC AND WE LOVE YOU <3 <3 <3

Kankri pov

It had been a little over a week since you had been to see Cronus, and you felt kinda guilty about it. Your stomach doing a flip when you remembered how excited he had been that you had come back, you shuffled to your closet and searched through the bottom, finding the bag of stuffed fish you had bought them a week earlier. It was almost eleven at night, you probably could go. You had already grabbed your backpack, now you just debated on whether or not you actually wanted to go. You wanted to see Cronus again, and you wanted to give Feferi and Eridan the toys you got them. cracking your bedroom door, you could hear your dad and Karkat talking downstairs. Shutting it again, you decided you weren’t going to go. But after five minutes of watching the clock tick, you threw open your bedroom window and climbed out onto the roof. You grabbed a hold of the gutter pipe that led from your roof to the ground and slid down, landing on the soft ground with a small thud. You approached the garage but thought better of it, your dad was awake and he would hear the car even if you started it on the street. you again, decided not to go as you unlocked Karkat’s bike from it’s holder. Rolling it outside, it took a minute to get used to being on a bike again, and you wobbled when you first set off. It took you alot longer to reach the dirt road on a bike than it would your car and by the time you pulled into the yard and unmounted the bike, you had started to get cold. You stared at the house, not seeing any movement or light in any of the windows.  
“I shouldn’t be here” You whispered to yourself, stepping onto the porch, you continued a rant of ‘i shouldn’t be here, they aren't even here, and why?’ being consistent phrases. You stood at the door and thought about your last encounter with Meenah, you really didn’t want to go through that again. You had turned and was already making your way across the yard to the bike when a voice stopped you. 

 

“Wwhat are you doin here?” Eridan asked from his sudden place on the porch railing.   
“Oh, I-” you started when Feferi appeared in the doorway and waved enthusiastically at you.   
“Did you come to play??” she bounced up and down on her heels with excitement, You remembered the fish in your backpack and you climbed back up the porch steps.   
“Kinda yes” you smiled at her, sitting down on the crickety swing. Pulling the bag out of your backpack, you opened it and pulled out the little cuttlefish. You held it out to her, her eyes wide at the toy before she broke into a grin and threw her small arms round your neck. You stilled for a second before hugging the small girl back. When she pulled back, she clutched the new fish like she was afraid to let go, and she turned and rushed to Eridan.   
“Eridan! Eridan! look at what Kankri brought me, isn’t adorabubble?” Eridan nodded before she disappeared into the house calling for her sister and cousin to show them. Eridan looked at Kankri before moving to follow Feferi into the house. 

 

“Eridan wait” You called, he paused and turned towards you. You stuck your hand back into the bag and brought out the violet salmon.   
“I have one for you too” he eyes flicked between you and the toy in your outstretched hand. Surprise still on his features, he clasped on eld of the fish and held it. Staring down at it, he glanced back up at you and mumbled a thank you before disappearing inside. You go to follow after him, but when you step through the doorway, you are alone. looking around for either of the kids, you walk yourself up to the room where you had hung out with Cronus last time. Turning on your flashlight ahead of time, you were wary of another run in with Meenah. Knocking on the door you believed was the right one, you called cronus name and quietly opened the door. the room was different, it was a dark pink bedroom with cd cases strewn across the dusty floor. stepping inside, you jumped when Meenah’s voice cut across the silence.   
“What the glub do you think you’re doin” she sounded angry, and your thoughts were confirmed as a lamp sailed past you and shattered on the wall. looking around wildly, you didn’t see any sign of the teenager. Backing against the door, another piece of furniture came sailing at you, you dove out of the wall in time for it to shatter where you had been standing. stumbling, you ran out into the hallway and headed in the direction of the stairs, ducking for furniture to fly over you and smash against the wall, you could hear Meenah laughing. 

“Run lil guppy, run!” she called out, smashing something else. You yelped when a hand shot out of a passing doorway and yanked you inside. slamming the door shut, the house went quiet again. You doubled over and attempted to calm your heart beat when Cronus yelled   
“Stop it Meenah” only to be answered by more laughter. You slid down until you were sitting on the ground, knees tucked against your chest. Cronus kneeled beside you, reminding you too much of your first meeting, and asked if you were alright.   
“i’m fine cronus, I really just.. I didn’t see her” sitting beside you, he laid an arm across your shoulders and you leaned into him, still trying to remember what a normal heartbeat felt like. after several minutes of trying, you heart calmed down to a normal pace, turning slightly to ask Cronus something, you clung to him when something else banged loud against the door you were leaning on. Meenah’s laughter echoing through the hall again  
“I just wanted to play with the guppy, not fair you get to keep him Cro” she called, the sound of something else breaking rang from somewhere in the house. You let your hold of cronus go and crumpled your hards in the bag still attached to your wrist. Remembering why you came, you took a large breath and started trying to talk, after a few attempts at starting a sentence to end up with a stutter.   
“I.. I brought you one too” you managed. He raised an eyebrow at you before you plunged your hand into the bag and hastily held out the white puffer fish. He stared wide eyed at the toy and gently took it from your hands, holding it close to his chest he continued to stare at it.   
“Thank you” he whispered, reminding you of Eridan only minutes ago. before you could reply, he had pulled you into a hug, smiling into the top of your head. even after the two of you broke apart, he never let go or set down the fish. if he wasn’t fiddling his hands around the soft fabric, he would stare at it and smile. Eventually he looked up at you with a deep sigh he slumped against the door.   
“Kankri...” he started, you frowned at the way he said your name, like he had bad news and was trying to avoid telling you.   
“I can’t take this, Kanny” he said, holding the fish back out to you.  
“how come? do you not like it? I can bring you a different one if you prefer” you began, but your rant was cut off by him shaking his head.   
“No kan, I love it, I do. but..”  
“Yes Cronus?” you replied gently, he looked you in the eyes, purple versus brown and he smiled slightly at you. holding the fish close to his chest.   
“Kanny, do you belive in ghosts?”


	6. Sleep is for the weak, more like sleep for a week

“Ghosts? Why on earth would I believe in ghosts?” you stared at him like he had just grown extra pairs of eyes, he must be joking. then it hit you  
“This is a serious conversation, right? you’re not “pulling my leg or anyfin?”” you quoted him with little air marks, and he smiled before reaching out slowly towards you. He stopped his hand a few centimeters from your arm.   
“Vwell, Kanny, I beliewve in ghosts, it would be kinda vweird not to believe in myself” and he pressed his hand against your arm, but instead of the solidness you had been hugging just minutes before, his hand passed through your arm. You yelped and leaned away until the two limbs were separated.   
“Cronus?...I..I” your stutter started again and you particularly didn’t care at this moment. He just sat there patiently, fiddling with the toy he still clutched in his hand.   
“How did you do that?” you whispered, looking closer at his arm and hand. It was dark, it had to be some kind of magic trick or something. 

“I’m a ghost, I can pass through stuff if I want” and you started shaking your head, another crash from somewhere in the house indicated Meenah was still going at it.   
“If you’re a ghost, that means that you’re…..” you weren’t entirely sure you could say the word, your lack of faith in the situation not helping matters.   
“Dead? yeah, real doozy vwhen I found out” he supplied, another crash closer this time snapping you out of your shock.   
“that’s impossible, because Meenah, Eridan and Feferi all talk to you, and they’re here more than I am. Do they know you’re dead?” you questioned a little accusingly, trying to keep your heart inside your ribcage, the way it was pounding you wouldn’t be surprised if the whole house could hear it. Cronus stared at you with a sad and kinda bitter expression until you felt the little click! in your head. All of them, you brought your legs to your chest and put your head in between your knees. Taking deep breaths to try and steady yourself, which was getting more and more difficult as every part of you felt ready to explode.   
“all of you?” you whispered, not moving from your position. 

 

“Yeah, Meenah took it the hardest” he explained, standing up to stretch and making his way further into the room. After a few minutes, you stood shakily up and followed him further in. You noticed you were in the same room as before, with the drawings and lyric papers hung all over the walls. sitting gently on the bed, you ran your fingers over the soft blanket out of nervousness, a few minutes later a fire appeared in the corner of the room. You jumped up and screamed, only to realize it was in the fireplace you hadn’t noticed before. Cronus came forward, his back to the flame and tentatively wrapped an arm around your shoulders. Grateful for the solid contact you leaned into him without thinking. Taking as this as okay, he gently led you towards the warm fire, the smell of burning dust making you wrinkle your nose. Setting you down in one of the armchairs by the fire, he took the one opposite of you and waited. You Realized shortly that he was waiting for you to talk.   
“How long have you been dead?” you asked him, reaching out and poking his arm, finding a solid mass once again.   
“wvell, depends vwhat year it is, my calendar is a little outdated” he jerked his head towards a aged pin up calendar on the wall.   
“It’s 2015” you answered him, watching as he thought.   
“The last year I remember was about 2002” he shrugged, thirteen years.   
“Vwe used to talk about it, Meenah and me, try to figure out vwhat happened, wvhy are vwe stuck in the house we livved in wvhen wve wvere alive, but the afterlife gets boring pretty quick. Then one day we found Fef and Er playing hide and seek upstairs. that wvas a rough day” he stared at the fire and you again laid your hand on his arm, but this time to try and comfort your friend. Trying to look anywhere but Cronus, you stared at the walls.   
“Cronus, if you used to live here, is all of this yours?” you ask, waving a hand at the papers lining the walls. Cronus grinned at you and made a motion with his hands, mock playing a guitar.   
“You play guitar?” he nodded enthusiastically. 

 

“I did, I don’t knowv vwhat happened to my guitar though” he shrugged, you heard another loud crash from outside the room.   
“Is she okay?” you asked, looking towards the door.   
“Yeah, she just gets bored” he replied lazily, as if commenting on the weather  
“So she breaks things when she’s bored?” your eyebrows raised at him  
“only sometimes, really depends on how bored she is, i’m surprised she hasn’t--” Cronus was interrupted by Meenah’s face lunging out of the fire at you, a terrifying noise accompanying it. You screamed and jolted back, the action causing your chair to tip backwards and both it and you crashing to the floor. you scrambled back, clutching at your chest. Meenah was floating several inches off the ground, laughing so hard she was rolling in the air. Eventually she faded out, her laugh still resonating around the room. Cronus stood and helped you up, making an irritated sound and glancing around the room. 

 

“As I was saying” he said loudly, glaring at the door where Meenah appeared long enough to give him her middle finger before disappearing again.   
“but yeah she does that” he continued casually. Your breath came in shaky waves as you looked at cronus with sarcastic skepticism  
“R..really now” you said as the bedroom door flung open and Feferi came in, her arms full with her toys.   
“Crooonnnusss, Meenah’s breaking things” she pouted. Cronus smiled gently at her and patted her hair, and from his spot in the doorway Eridan rolled his eyes.   
“yeah, it’s annoyin and loud” he frowned, Cronus turned towards you.   
“play with Feferi for a minute?” he asked as he made his way towards the door, shutting it behind him before you could even reply.   
you mumbled a sure and sat on the floor beside Feferi, who thrust one of her fish at you and started making the other one swim in the air, making little glub noises. You followed her lead and Eridan scowled from his spot beside the door.   
“So Cro finally told you wwe’re dead” you stared at him, slightly nodding. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from where you and the small girl played on the floor.   
“It’s not so bad, but i miss reading, and ice cream” Feferi commented with a giggle as her fish did a cartwheel in the air  
“Don’t you have a library here?” you asked her, remembering the room stocked with dusty old books.   
“yeah, but all of them are dad’s, not really for kids” Eridan huffed, sitting down in the chair you had upturned and frowned into the fire. You went back to playing with Feferi and made a mental note for the next time you and porrim went to the mall. 

 

You and feferi’s fish race was cut off by shouting, Cronus and Meenah’s voices carrying through the large house.   
“WELL THE GUPPY SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN IN MY ROOM”  
“THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU START THROWING SHIT, NAH”  
“WOW CRO, LOOK AT THE FUCKS I GIVE. IT’S NOT LIKE IT MATTERS, WE’RE JUST STUCK” Meenah shouted and a door was slammed, so hard it shook the door to Cronus’s room. An awkward silence followed and Cronus came back in, muttering apologies before scooping up Feferi.  
“Cmon fef, let’s get you to bed” he motioned for Eridan to follow as well, you stood as well.   
“You need sleep? no offense” you tacked on quickly, not wanting to be awkward. 

 

“Vwe don’t, but hey, it kills time. and it makes things seem normal” Cronus answered you with a shrug, following him and the kids out into the hallway. He disappeared into a door a few steps down, peeking in you saw him tucking in Feferi into a small pink bed, Eridan already bundled up under the blankets on the white bed on the other side of the room. Cronus tucked Feferi’s fishes around her and kissed her on the forehead, calling goodnight to Eridan before shutting the door behind him. The hallway seemed so much more dark with just you and Cronus, even though you had grown accustomed to the dark and dusty house. He looked down the hall towards meenah’s door and frowned.   
“I’m sorry about Nah, she’s just..” he started, words trailing off into an empty, awkward silence.   
“I should go soon, I want to get home before sunrise” you said, rocking back and forth on your heels. Cronus looked at you with a puzzled expression before pointing towards the end of the hall. It was the hall you had gotten lost in your first night here, and you remembered the disturbing, windowless dark hall.  
“Chief, the suns been up for a vwhile” and sure enough, upon closer inspection, you noticed bits of light filtering between boards drilled into the wall. With a shock, you realized that it was a window, boarded up, but definitely a window. You started backing down the hallway, calling to Cronus over your shoulder  
“I have to go, i’ll be back later!” he waved as you thundered down the stairs and onto the lawn. Glancing back at the house a you pulled away on Karkat’s bike, on one of the upper floor balconies sat Meenah, her legs hanging off the edge and swinging slightly. She watched you pull away, and just before you turned the corner and lost sight of her, she raised her hand in the air and waved. The gesture going out of sight as you turned off the dirt road, and pedaled hard towards town.


	7. so she is ugly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy 413 everyone! decided to update like the comic that slowly consumes our lives haha, have you guys seen the up8, i mean seriously. cx thanks to everyone whos put up with us thus far and our shenanigans, we love you and we are still not sorry. Keep an eye out for the drug cartel au coming, in the mean time, heres what ghost.  
> ~~Zaiden and Mary  
> (lexxiekra)

“Kanny, are you in your pajamas?” You bristled at the voice as you turned to meet Porrims frown. Her eyes glanced you over again.   
“No, Porrim I am not.” you mumbled, Porrim sighed and took ahold of your wrist, dragging you through the school to her locker. easy to find, the only locker in the school with creeping vines painted on, she swung the door open and rooted around for a moment before she pulled out a small bag labeled with your name. she also retrieved her purse and ushered you towards the nearest set of bathrooms. She steered you into the gender neutral bathroom and deposited the sack into your hands. You sighed and closed yourself in the stall.   
“Porrim, this is not necessary, I can go one day in my pajamas” she let out a snort and hoisted herself onto the sink.   
“Please Kanny, you hate wearing your pajamas in public. what’s going on with you?” she asked as you emerged from the stall, dressed in comfortable dark jeans and a red hoodie.   
“Nothing, Porrim” you sighed as you looked around for your backpack, grimacing when you remembered since you hadn’t had time to go home and change, you also didn’t have any of your school stuff. Your backpack still full of stuff for going to visit Cronus last night.   
“Porrim, By chance, may I borrow a pencil?” you stated, she stared at you before rummaging around in her purse and producing a green mechanical pencil.   
“Where’s your books?” she asked, also realizing that you didn’t have your backpack.   
“It’s.. at home” you sputtered, Porrim crossed her arms over her chest and stared at you.   
“Is it something bad? I’ll take care of it if it is” She threatened, instantly you started shaking your head.   
“No, no it’s not bad, i’ve just been..distracted lately” you shrugged, she relaxed and hugged you before setting you on the sink while you idly chatted and she attempted to fix your hair.   
~~  
the day progressed with awkwardness only equal to the one time in first grade that you don’t talk about anymore... as you had to share a book with someone in every class, most of them you didn’t know at all. Thankfully, it was time for lunch and you carried your tray of food to the table you’re group sat at. frowning at the cafeteria food as you sat, you usually brought your lunch, but not today, you internally groaned at Cronus, who was miles away. you continued to internally grumble to yourself until you were distracted by Mituna rushing towards the table. as he spoke he flailed his limbs in a blur of bright yellow   
“Holly Thit you guys I thought of thomeone who could be datin-”he froze mid sentence and stared at you, the awkward silence only by Latula’s call of   
“BeeBae?” at which Mituna broke off his stare down and ran towards the school building. Ignoring when his girlfriend called after him  
.  
“I’ll be right back” she said as she got up and ran after her boyfriend. The various people at the table suddenly huddled into small groups and began whispering eagerly. You turned towards Porrim, the only one besides you who hadn’t dissolved into the gossip huddles  
“What was that about?” you inquire, she shrugged and threw her empty container into her lunch bag  
“They’ve been taking bets on who you're dating” she replied casually, and you almost choked on the drink of milk you had been taking.  
”I beg your pardon?” you sputtered, she looked at you with surprise at you’re surprise  
“I thought you knew, they just can’t figure out who it is”   
“That’s because it’s no one, I am celibate!” you said the last part a little loudly, and you noticed the rush of conversation slow down to hear what you were saying. You glanced over and everyone quickly looked another direction, irritating you more.   
“Just because you’re celi, Kanny doesn’t mean you can’t date someone” Porrim whispered to you. Standing up and shoving your tray into the nearest bin  
“I don’t have to explain myself, if you’ll excuse me” angrily grabbing the few things you had acquired throughout the day and walking towards the school building. As you walked away you heard the gossip return to full volume, rolling your eyes as you passed Mituna eagerly explaining something to Latula in an empty classroom. It was going to a longer day than you thought.   
~~~  
The day did indeed drag by slowly, but you felt a small joy as the last bell rang and you followed the crowd out of the building. Ignoring your group of friends, you sat on the wall and waited for your younger brother to emerge. you heard Karkat before you saw him, His rant being loosely followed by Sollux and Terezi as the three emerged from the middle school building. He approached you and he continued to angrily rant to himself as the two of you began in the direction of him, he only paused when you went to the bike rack and pulled his bike from it.   
“Is that...my bike?” he questioned curiously  
“it is, why the fuck do you have my bike?”   
“I needed it” you shrugged and tried to move onto the sidewalk but Karkat stepped in front of you.  
“why did you need it” he returned   
“Because I woke up late”   
“Why didn’t you just drive”   
“Because..Because.. I couldn’t find my keys” You retorted weakly, and Karkat’s eyes narrowed  
“You couldn’t find your keys in your perfectly neat room” he accused, you sighed and nodded  
“yes, I must have left them somewhere else” Karkat’s eyes narrowed even further and he stepped closer to the bike between the two of you  
“You are dating someone!” he exclaimed and you instantly started stammering again  
“no-o i’m not, i just left them somewhere else” And Karkat grinned and stepped closer again  
“It’s all Nepeta and Muelin talk about! who is she, why won’t you tell anyone about it?” Karkat snapped his fingers as something dawned on him  
“She’s ugly, isn’t she?!” he yelled, getting everyone around the two of you to look and you instantly try to shoosh him  
“That’s it, you’re ashamed because she’s ugly”  
“No Karkat that’s not it”   
“So she’s hot”   
“Karkat no”  
“So she is ugly, like how ugly are we talking here  
“”Karkat I am not dating anyone!” you huffed and brushed past him, wheeling the small bicycle towards your house  
“So she is ugly” He laughed and followed you home.


	8. SHIT LETS BE DRAGONS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> <3 i'm tryin to put as much funny as i can in before we get to the sad chapters coming up, thanks for sticking with us!  
> ~~Mary and Zaiden  
> (Lexxiekra)

You were so happy to flop down onto your bed, having ditched Karkat and his bike in the yard, you glanced at the clock. You still had time that you go to Cronus’s if you wanted, So you grabbed your school backpack and filled it with your school stuff, including an extra pair of clothes and pajamas, and then dug around in your closet for the old power rangers backpack you had in middle school. You shuddered at the thought of middle school and quickly started stuffing things into it. Including your phone, flashlight, Ipod, and anything else you thought you might need. Finding your car keys on their usual hook, you grumbled and took your two bags down stairs. Hiding one by the back door and holding the other in your hand, you approached your dad, who was pouring over his books in preparation for his sermon for sunday morning.   
“Dad, i‘m spending the night at Porrims” you said, he didn’t even look up as he replied   
“alright, just remember to walk Karkat home tomorrow ” and you nodded, grabbing your other bag and throwing them into the backseat. Glancing at the house, you saw Karkat looking out his window with a smug expression on his face, phone already in hand and you just sighed and pulled out of the driveway. 

BRB KANKRI, WE HAVE TO BE KARKAT  
You are now Karkat, and you are staring out the window as your older brother Kankri leaves, probably to go see the girl he’s so ashamed of.you think for a minute before you dial Kanaya’s number, She answered with a graceful ‘hello’ before you launched into your question  
“Kanaya, Is Kankri coming over there tonight?”   
“Not that I am aware of, Porrim usually tells me if anyone is coming over, one moment please” in the background you can hear her asking Porrim  
“No, Porrim hasn’t heard from him since school, should we be concerned?” and you shook your head before remembering that she can’t see that.   
“No, I just think he’s up to something”  
“So the rumors are true, it is safe to presume?”  
“I think so, and I think I know why he won’t tell anyone who she is, I think he’s embarrassed because she’s ugly” Kanaya was silent for a moment   
“Well, one can only hope that they are happy together”  
and you, Kanaya and Porrim continued to chat back and forth for a long time, even past when you wondered where kankri had gone.  
SHIT LET’S BE DRAGONS  
i mean….  
YOU ARE NOW KANKRI VANTAS 

and you are silently thankful that the sun hasn’t set as you pull up to the old faded house. Collecting your bags from the backseat, you climbed up the porch and entered the front door. Retrieving your flashlight and flicking it on, you let the beam fill up the dark house, as you made your way up the stairs to Cronus’s room. You were halfway up the stairs when you heard a thunk from below. Frowning, you went down the steps and carefully approached the door that you had heard the noise from. Carefully opening the door, you peered into the darkness before shining the flashlight in and you instantly jumped back as a face appeared from the darkness. You dropped your things and stood there are your heart pounded against your chest, Eridan emerged scowling at you, gesturing at you you as he yelled  
“Wwhat are you doin, I was hiden”   
“I heard a noise!” you exclaimed, your voice rising in pitch as you still held a hand over your thumping heart  
“I knocked over a bucket” he mocked your pitch as he waved his hand at the dark door behind him   
“What’s down there?” you asked as you once again peered down the into the dark   
“the basement, duh” He rolled his eyes at you  
“this place has a basement?” you picked your bags back up off the floor  
“of course wwe do, it’s a multi story above and below” he said as if it were the most obvious thing. You couldn’t get another word in as Feferi appeared with a squeal.   
“I found you Eridan!” she giggled as she tagged him, he puffed out his cheeks as Fef disappeared with a wave at you. Eridan threw his hands up into the air  
“See wwhat you’ve done” and he disappeared after her. the silence once again settled over the house, so quiet you could hear the wind outside. Peeking once again into the basement, you tentatively started descending the steps. The staircase turned out to be circular, with a little landing area that stopped at the first level of the basement before continuing below. You shine your flashlight into room after room, one containing an old couch, another full of taped up boxes, several bathrooms, one bedroom, but it was only at the end of the hallway did you find something impressively odd. A large painting of a man in decorated military attire hung on a wall. He medals looked shiny and intimidating even in the dusty painting, he wore a look of intense calmness, the scars on his face matching Cronus’s. In fact, the closer you looked the more you realized he looked a great deal like Cronus.   
“He was his dad” A voice said behind you, and for the second time in ten minutes you jumped so hard you dropped the bags you were holding. you turned to see Meenah floating a few steps behind you, staring hard at the painting.   
“Sorry, what?” you asked, she rolled her eyes and floated down until she was standing on the ground.   
“The big guy in the picture, he’s Cronus and Eridan’s father, my uncle” she nodded towards the painting, the more she looked at it the further down the corners of her mouth turned.   
“I take it you two didn’t get along?” you begin, to which Meenah laughed.   
“Of course we did, as far as anyone knew, we were the perfect family” she kicked a chair before flopping down into it. a cloud of dust making you cough, she only grinned at you.   
“Silly guppy, what with your functioning lungs” she joked, and you smiled as you sat down, trying to even out your coughs.   
“what do you mean” at the prompt she turned her gaze to another painting beside the man, it showed a tall, thin woman, with long wavy hair and striking features, the woman wore a tight black and pink dress and honestly looked like she owned the world. Meenah’s eyes flicked down the painting before she grunted and turned back towards you  
“My mother, the woman over there, is this big fancy ceo. We had to be the perfect family all the time, get along, attend events like we the glubbin president or something. It was shitty” she shrugged and played with one of her long braids absentmindedly. she gave a short bitter laugh  
“Now we’re the perfect dead kids” she stood up and started crossing to the door  
“cmon guppy, i’ll take you up to Cronus” You stood and followed after her, walking past the bedroom again gave you a thought  
“Meenah, why is there a bedroom down here?” she glanced back at the shut door  
“huh? Oh, Eridan lives..well..lived down here, he moved down here after Feferi” the door looked untouched, but you suppose if you could phase through stuff, you wouldn’t bother opening doors either. You turn your attention back to Meenah and the two of you start walking again.   
“So how did it happen?” she glanced at you  
“What, fefi? we don’t know, none of us know how we died, and every time the rest of us try to think about how another one of us died, we get this horribubble headache and pass out”  
“Ghosts can pass out?” you inquire, pondering over the new thought  
“well yeah, we may be dead but we still can do shit like that, keep up guppy” you two were finally making your way up the grand staircase. She stopped at a door that you’re pretty sure was Cronus’s.  
“He might be asleep, so be sure to wake him up” she nudged you and walked off down the hallway, whistling to herself. You cracked open the door and sure enough, there was a lump on the bed, Cronus lay on top of the blanket, one arm hanging off the side, sound asleep. You dropped your stuff by the door and sat down in the arm chair by the fire place. You read what you could from the papers on the walls and slowly you blinked yourself to sleep.


	9. Cronus, pay attention.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It only goes downhill from here. Still not sorry

You jerked awake, sitting up in the bed before realizing that hey, you were in bed. all good. You settled back under the warm blanket before you realized the pillows smelled of dust. Snapping your eyes back open, you squinted until you realized that you were in Cronus’s bed.glancing around, you seen that he was laying on the couch, watching the fire burn as he sang quietly to himself.   
“Cronus?” he looked over before standing up  
“oh hey chief, this chair ain't good for sleeping, so i put you in the bed” he shrugged as he sat beside you.   
“Hope you don’t mind, it’s been forever since i got to listen to music” he blushed as he handed you back your ipod  
“I didn't think you knew how to use an ipod”  
“It took a wvhile to figure out, but i got it”  
and then you got to learn a whole different side of Cronus. Music, he listened to every song you had, and he talked about his favorites and what he liked best about each song and the passion that he was talking with had you totally enclosed. He laughed and made an over amount of hand gestures, and you swore you seen a light in his eyes that you had never seen before. you kept leaning forward towards him, enchanted by this version of Cronus. After a few seconds, you realized he had stopped talking to stare back at you. Your faces only inches apart, and your eyes flicked down to his mouth. Which formed into a smile as soon as you did, and he slowly inched forward until you two were almost touching when Eridan started yelling in the hallway. The two of you jumped apart, blushing awkwardly. He rubbed the back of his neck, not looking at you  
“Sorry Kanny, i got a little too excited there, wvhich wvouldn't wvork anywvay since you knovw, i’m dead” he laughed slightly passing a hand through himself. He stood up and went to walk back to the couch  
“You should get back to sleep Kanny, you need it” you only stopped him to hand him your ipod, you showed him how to work the youtube app, and his face lit up. You fell asleep to the sound of Cronus singing along to a youtube video.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You’re shaken awake by Cronus who is excitedly saying your name, he’s laying directly beside you on the bed, your ipod cradled in his hands above the two of you  
“Kanny, kanny you have got to look at this” he pressed play on a video that you recognized as something karkat had shown you a few years ago, but you watched anyway, mostly because Cronus kept turning his head to glance at you with a overly excited expression on his face.   
“Kanny this is the coolest thing, you gotta wvatch this one next” he said clicking on another video, returning to turning between you and the video. he looked so excited you couldn't help but smile, he was like a really adorable puppy, a dead puppy, but still. You glanced at the time at the top of the screen and realized you had roughly hour until school, regretfully removing yourself from underneath the warm blankets and shuffling around for your backpack.   
“wvhat you doin kanny” Cronus asked, sitting up and pausing the video  
“I have to get ready for school” you stated, looking at you phone again try and gauge if you had enough time to get home and take a shower.  
“I’m just debating whether i have time to go home and shower before school or not” Cronus stood up and walked over towards you  
“you can shower here, ya know”” you pause and look at Cornus in confusion,  
“I can?” you hesitate, he smiled   
“Wvell yeah, the only bathroom that still works is in the lower basement, but i’ll make sure no one bothers you” he shrugged and you started following Cronus out into the hallway, you paused again long enough to dig your flashlight out of your backpack and you flicked it on, letting the light illuminate the stairway THE SILLAH CHAPTAHHH as the two of you descend, past the first level and on to the second, and down a short hallway Cronus opened the door to a white and violent pink bathroom, a large shower resting in one side of the room while a sink, a tub and a toilet nestled in on the other side.  
“So how come this bathroom works?” you inquire as you set the flashlight so it lights up the whole small room and drop your bags on the floor by the sink.  
“It’s connected to the well out back” Cronus shrugged and backed towards the door,  
“I’ll be outside if you need me, cheif” you waved him out as you started fumbling with the shower, you let the water warm up as well as it could and started to strip, you caught a sight of your shirtless torso in the grimy mirror that hung above the sink and frowned, you were overall pretty wiry, thin noodles limbs with only a slight hint of muscle. You crinkled your nose at the reflection and finished stripping, leaving your pants and boxers beside your shirt on the sink and settling into the shower. It was nice to get the dust rinsed off you, and you could hear Cronus singing outside. His voice and the water pouring over you relaxed you enough that you started to gently sing along yourself, fumbling to remember some of the words that you had forgotten. You laughed quietly at how much things had changed since your first venture into the house, you thought about this for a moment but jumped a little and frowned when you saw something move against the light of the flashlight.   
“Hey chief, sorry, but it won’t turn on” Cronus said as he leaned against the side of the shower, through the crack in the curtain you could see his head and shoulder as he messed with the device in his hands.   
“it probably just died, give me a minute” you replied, moving quickly to rinse out your hair.   
“Died…..? like me died?” he questioned, you could see him staring at the device in wonder  
“Ha, no Cronus, it just needs to be charged”   
“Needs to be what?”  
“charged, like with electricity”   
“Oh...yeah no we don’t got none of that” he said a little sadly, you shut off the water and stood there for a second  
“I believe i brought my portable charger, give me a moment” you heard shuffling and an okay thrown over Cronus’s shoulder as a door shut. you peeked out and found yourself alone in the pink bathroom, slipping out of the shower, you shone the light into your bag and pulled on a clean pair of boxers and jeans. you were still digging through your bag for your shirt when Cronus’s head appears through the doorway  
“Hey Kanny are you do...” Cronus’s words stopped short when he realized you were shirtless, a blush spread across Cronus’s face and you smiled and motioned him through the door, he came through and 

became solid, you reached up and pressed a gentle kiss to his mouth, Cronus blushed harder and leaned down and returned the kiss, running his hands through your still wet hair. You broke away and started to plant little kisses down Cronus’s neck, drawing little gasps from him, especially when you ran your hand down his chest and dipped underneath his shirt. he moaned into your neck as he start kissing you again and 

(Cronus are you okay?) your voice seems to snap Cronus out of whatever thought he was having, you squinted at him and repeated the question. you pulled your shirt over your head and sighed as you felt your shirt soak up most of the leftover water. Cronus blushed harder and stuck your ipod out towards you. You took it and dug through the other backpack before producing the portable charger. Connecting it, you watched your ipod flicker to life.   
“Here you go Cronus, just keep it connected and it will charge” he took it from you and mumbled something about being outside and disappeared through the door. The ipod clattered to the floor and Cronus reappeared, stammering apologies and this time him and the ipod disappeared.   
“huh” you shrugged and put on your shoes, repacking your bags and hauling them and you up the stairs. You heard Cronus singing some where in the house, and you heard Feferi yell at Eridan followed by thumping and giggling. You passed Meenah on the stairs, and she nodded at you on her way down. Yelling goodbye to everyone, you tossed your things into the car and started heading to school, thankful it was friday. You and porrim were going to the mall tomorrow and you were excited to hang out with her, you hadn’t seen her much since you started spending most of your free time with Cronus. Which reminds you that you wanted to pick up some stuff for Feferi and Eridan while you’re there. You turned the radio on and a grin reached your face when you placed the song as the one you fell asleep to last night, the one Cronus was singing.


	10. thrift shop? nah, book shop.

Porrim and Damara had dragged you and Rufio through every shop in the mall, Finally the two of you had managed to escape and sat quietly at a small round table in the food court, sipping at oddly flavoured coffees. You had never really been fond of Rufio, but you would much rather sit out here with him then watch the girls comb through victorias secret, You gave up on the struggling conversation and excused yourself from the table, disappearing down a hallway until you found the shop you had been waiting to go to all day. You entered the kids store and glanced around, the cashier never looking up from her book. You retrieved a pink basket form the pile and began filling it with books of all kinds, books with fuzzy pieces, pop up books, books big and small. You couldn’t wait to see Feferi’s face when you brought these over. Some of them you remeber reading to Karkat when he was younger, others you had never heard of and guessed at what they were about. You also got a small board game you think Eridan would like, in the boardgame isle, you passed by the game “life” and you couldn’t help but laugh slightly. You felt a little bad, but after the way Meenah joked about it, the laugh didn’t stick in your throat like you figured it would. The cashier sighed and finally set her book down long enough to ring you up, handing you your bags, she slunk back down onto her chair and resumed reading her worn copy of Problem Sleuth. You hadn’t read it before, but she seemed invested in it enough, Porrim spotted you through the glass store front just then, holding the door open for you and waiting. You passed by her and ignored her question of your store choice and you were happy to hold the book heavy bags in your hands. You couldn’t wait to go see everyone tomorrow. You were staying the night at Porrims tonight, so you stowed everything in the trunk of Porrim’s little green bug and climbed in. You didn’t add to the conversation as she dropped the other two passengers at Rufio’s house, you waved slightly at Rufio’s brother who sat in their patchy front yard, playing a card game with Kurloz’s brother. You believe that they were dating, but you had never been entirely sure. You were thankful Porrim didn't try to make much conversation on the way to her house, because your mind was miles away.


	11. Too much time with Meenah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ah it's getting there, and it's about to get real. enjoy the laughs while they are here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've wanting to write this chapter for several chapters now

MEENAH POV  
You sit in the dining room listening to Cronus and Eridan bicker about the stupid harry potter books that cronus would read him when they were alive. It was annoying. You really needed new books. all the books you have you've either already read or are too boring to read. you let out a wail and flung your head back, why was death so damn boring? you shoved yourself away from the table, passing through the door that led downstairs, you floated lazily along, there was nothing else to do. you eventually found yourself on the bottom floor, in the back room you and Kankri had talked in. You hate to admit it, but it really was more fun with that little guppy around. you scowled as you passed the paintings of your mother and uncle, you stopped and floated yourself down to standing in front of a frame covered by a heavy drape. Pulling it off gently, you smiled at the painting it hid. Eridan and Feferi sat in chairs, behind them was yourself and Cronus, each flanked by your respective parent. The six of you looked like royalty, and as much as you hated that it existed, it’s one of the few things that made you happy. Seeing everyone alive, it was weird to think of yourself as alive tho, being dead for so long and all. you sighed and recovered the regal painting, and turned around so you faced the bookshelf that lay hidden by dark in the other corner. You flopped down into the chair you had sat in with Kankri and stared at the shelf, a chill traveled its way down your spine as it always did when you spent too much time in this room. Something about the bookshelf made you on edge, nervous, which is kinda silly, since you’re dead, but it just gave you the heebie jeebies. Shuddering, you stood up and floated back up to the main part of the house, passing through the floor into what was once Eridan’s room, and up into the main foyer. You could still hear Eridan and Cronus arguing in the dining room, so you floated down the hall to where your sister was playing. She smiled when she seen you and she promptly handed you a toy when you sat down beside her, you watched the sun go down through the cracks in the window and you sat in the hallway playing with Fef. Maybe death could have it’s upsides too. 

FRIGHT NIGHT TIME MOTHERFUCKERS YASS  
KANKRI POV

You had fun last night at Porrim’s, but now you were packing everything up to go see your other best friend, Cronus. If a year ago someone told you that you would be friends with a ghost you would tell them to direct that kind of conversation to Mituna and Kurloz. you shook your head as you gathered your bags and snuck out down the hall. reaching the back door, you stopped in panic when you heard your father move around in the living room, but he was only readjusting in his sleeping position on the couch. You laughed lightly in relief and headed out the back door, glancing around before sliding into your car, tossing the bags beside you and silently rolling out of the driveway. You made it halfway down the length of your house before you braked and started the car, thankful for your silent engine as you rumbled your way towards the road the led out of town.   
~~

Shortly later you pulled into the yard of one of your now favorite places, the boarded up windows staring out at you like the eyes of the house. gathering everything up, including the bag of takeout you had grabbed on your drive, you walked up the front steps and slid inside, shutting the door with your hip. you held your flashlight with your free hand and flicked it on, illuminating the large house. You listened for any sound that would indicate to you the locations of your friends, but you heard only the gentle sound of crickets and frogs from outside. Sighing, you turned left into the large dining room and dropped everything into one of the pulled out chairs, you wandered through the house, finally locating the kitchen, another bathroom, a small closet, a staircase that led to the attic, and a balcony that rested just above the yard. You stepped onto the back porch and watched the last rays of sunlight filter into nothing, the light shining down on a circle of rose bushes planted around the backyard. The only living thing here, you began to laugh and instantly decided you had spent too much time with Meenah. still you smiled, and were preparing to go back inside when you heard a door close and voices.   
“Cronus? Meenah?” you called as you entered the door, sliding it shut behind you along with the now disturbed cobwebs. The voices were followed by laughter and the sound of clinking glass. You sucked in a breath and darted into the nearest room, the closet you had discovered earlier, and you peeked through a crack in the door. It was too dark to see of course, and being in the small bathroom didn’t help. You whispered Cronus’s name until he appeared in your beam of light, smiling and happy to see you as ever.   
“Cronus there are people in the house” you whispered in a rush, he just blinked at you before smiling slowly.   
“I know, believe it or not Kanny we don’t really go anywhere”  
“No cronus, like people people, in the house” you punctuated your words with points at the door, he stopped and listened, the smile slowly falling for you face. he whispered a shh to you before disappearing again. You held your breath you were straining so hard to listen.   
“Great place chuck, nothing like a creepy fucking abandoned house” followed by laughter and more clinking glass, and then Cronus’s voice  
“Sorry to bust your bubble there, chief, but this place ain't abandoned”  
and then they all screamed, two of the people came running down the hall where you hid, half empty beer bottles still in their hands.  
Feferi appeared in front of them and they stopped in their tracks, staring at her in terror.   
“Yea)(, i mean don’t get me wrong, i’d leave if i could” she waved her little fish at them, she did something to make them scream, you could hear Cronus approaching from down the hall. one of them ducked into the closet with you, and you thanked everything that you had shut the flashlight off. A still moment of breathing passed between the two of you, he jumped when he realized you were there.   
“holy shit man, there are monsters out there” his voice trembled, he was the one who was talking earlier. You couldn’t help but smile slightly, you really had been spending too much time with Meenah. You flicked the light to life, cupping the light with your hand so it gave a red glow, you leaned closer to him and whispered into the dark closet  
“Who said that all the monsters are out there” and then you did the most bad movie thing you could think of, you said BOO and he slammed back and scrambled out of the closet so fast you thought he was going to trip. He did trip when he caught sight of Cronus coming down the hall, Meenah not far behind him, water pouring off of her and onto the floor. Cronus’s had blood seeping from his neck and where his limbs connected to his torso, it had seeped through his shirt and dripped off him as he walked. leaving odd little dots in the water  
“So you think you can just come in, break our shit, and-” the one who had been in the closet with you started begging, you would have felt bad for him, but you surprisingly couldn’t find it in you. DEfinitely too much time with Meenah. Meenah stuck her face directly in front of the beggar  
“Then fuckin leave” she pointed towards the door, which two of them scrambled for, chased after by Meenah, laughing and still spouting water, the sound of Meenah throwing things at them followed. After a few second, you slowly turned to Cronus.   
“Cronus, you’re bleeding” your words make him turn from watching the chase down the hall to you, he scrunched his expression in confusion before glancing down. he mumbled an apology and close his eyes, the blood began to draw back into him with a gut turning SHLICK sound, you instantly propped yourself against the wall by one arm and began dry heaving. You vaguely heard Cronus ask if you were okay, and it was all you could manage to hold up a finger signaling you needed a minute. What the fuck was that.


	12. Last Request

Once your stomach had regained balance, you walked down to the dining room, glancing at Cronus every few steps  
“So, what was that?” you asked, your voice nervously high  
“that? oh, i don’t knovw, just something i figured out i could do one day”  
“and the water?”   
“that’s Meenah’s thing, mines the blood, vwe think it has somefin to hovw wve died, but wve aren't sure. you think that’s wvhacky, you should see wvhat Eridan can do” he said, clapping you on the shoulder and entering the dining room. you shuddered and quickly decided you didn’t want to know. reaching the chair where you dropped your bag, you took one look at the takeout bag, and pushed it to the side. You really didn’t have an appetite anymore. Feferi bounced into the room, followed by Meenah, who was no longer spouting water, and you remembered why you were so excited to come here tonight. reaching into your bag, you dug until you hand closed around the plastic shopping bag.   
“Wvhat’cha doin Kanny, diggin for gold?” Cronus asked, flopping into the chair beside your bag at laying his arm across the back.   
“No Cronus, as amusing that would be, i remembered a conversation i had with the kids a while ago and i brought them something” at this Feferi’s face lit up and she faded from the room, giggling as she went. She reappeared within seconds dragging Eridan behind her  
“Fef what the fuc” he whined, cleary unhappy at being roused  
“Kankri said he brought us something” she stood in front of you, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. you smiled at her, her fish wiggled in it’s place on her shoulder.   
“I remembered you said you didn’t have any books, so” you commented, pulling out the bag. Feferi squealed and launched herself at you, wrapping her small arms around your neck and hugging you tightly. you started at the surprise contact but quickly hugged her bag.   
“Eridan, books! Kankri will you read to us?” she asked, throwing in a small pout at the end to emphasis.  
“of course” Feferi disappeared again, and Eridan tried to roll his eyes but you could see the small smile he wore before he disappeared too. Cronus pointed upwards and grinned at you, Meenah even smiled as you followed the kids upstairs.  
“In here!” Feferi yelled, he head of massive curls peeking out of a doorway. You followed her in to discover it was the kids room, you noticed a small dollhouse in the corner, it’s wallpaper faded and the doll missing an arm. Feferi patted the bed beside her, hugging her fish tightly. you sat on the bed and as soon as you were comfortable, Feferi leaned against you. Eridan sat at the end of the bed, crossed legged and staring at the doll house. you pulled some of the books out and had them pick one. you found a way to read around Feferi and began in a soft voice  
“Wendy always knew...”  
and by the time you had made it halfway through peter pan, both of the children were asleep. Feferi still laying against you and Eridan curled on his side by your legs. You smiled and tried to find a way to get up without disturbing them when you noticed the both Cronus and Meenah were on the couch across the room. You didn’t realize they had snuck in for story time, but that made you smile even more. Meenah was asleep, her knees pulled to her chest and her head laying on them. Cronus beside her smiled at you, blinking a few times before he stood up, moving the kids so you could slide out of the bed. Eventually he scooped up Meenah and disappeared through the wall, a few minutes later he opened the door for you, you laid the book on the table beside Feferi’s bed and followed Cronus out. the two of you walked in comfortable silence until you were on one of the back balconies. Cronus sat down against the rail, letting his legs swing off the ledge. You sat beside him, but kept your legs on the balcony.   
“that wvas real sweet of you”  
“I’ve grown pretty fond of those two” you admitted, cautiously scooting forward and gingerly letting a leg hang off the edge one at a time.  
“i’m glad of that, i’m glad you came back” Cronus smiled at you meekly before staring down at the rose bushes  
“I need your help Kanny” he whispered, fiddling with a fray on his shirt and not looking at you.   
“with what?” you asked, unsure of what you could help him with  
“Being trapped here, it’s nice sometimes, because you havwe your family, but it’s kinda hell too. I don’t wvant them to spend another ten years being trapped in this fuckin house.”  
You blinked and waited for him to continue  
“I havwe no idea wvhere to start, and i knovw it’s alot to ask, but Kankri” he finally looked at you, he had tears forming in his eyes.  
“will you help me let them move on”  
You smiled at Cronus, placing a hand on his shoulder.   
“Of course Cronus”


	13. Modern day witch doctor

Almost three weeks had passed, three long weeks filled with grueling research sessions and dealing with your friends acting as weird as ever. Only Porrim remained unchanged, though you had no doubt she knew all the gossip your group had produced about you. You at least received a break when halloween rolled around. You and Porrim took Karkat and Kanaya trick or treating, Then you and Porrim split ways, her on her way to Damara’s halloween bash, which you would have attended as well, had you not had other plans. You weren’t sure if the kids could actually eat candy, but you brought several bags over along with the new round of books that had streamed into the house by you. They excitingly ate the candy anyway, and eventually they started tossing skittles into the air for the other to catch, and after a few minutes of egging, You Meenah played as well. She caught almost every skittle you tossed at her, and you missed almost everyone she tossed. You tossed one to Cronus, and watched as surprised crossed his face just in time for the skittle to hit him in the eye, and both you and meenah laughed so hard at him you had tears in your eyes. Feferi high fived you and ate the fallen skittle.you read to them and they ate candy until they fell asleep in their now normal position, Feferi leaning against your arm or side, Eridan curled up against your legs, and Meenah on the couch, legs against her chest and braids wrapped around her.   
But as quickly as halloween has come, it passed, and you were thrust back into the task of finding a way to release Cronus’s family from the house. You had read old books from the religion section of the library in your town, and the next one over, and the one on the other side of that town. you spent hours googling everything you could think of, and the cherry on top of it all, was it lead to a very, very awkward conversation with Kurloz one day at lunch. And that catches you up to right now, you sat in your car clutching your back pack. The polka dotted door a few feet in front of you making you nervous, you swallowed thickly and swung your door open. Making your way up the path to Meulin and Kurloz’s shared apartment, you jumped slightly when the door yanked open before you could even knock. Meulin stood there grinning at you, her massive amount of hair pulled into a sloppy bun on top of her head, you followed her inside silently, taking in the odd appearance of the living room, colourful scarves covered every available surface, a few books laid scattered. A glance as you passed by a few showed some of them to be romance novels. Meulin cleared her throat and you passed by her into the dining room, where Kurloz sat at the small table behind a mass pile of thick books. Meulin ambled around the kitchen, setting two cat shaped tea cups on the table between you and the larger man, she pressed a brief kiss to her lover's cheek and disappeared down the hall and into a room, the door shutting firmly behind her.   
‘the price for my help is you must tell me what’s going on’ he signed at you, pulling a book from the stack and flipping it open. He let it rest in his lap and stared at you expectantly. You felt a lump in your throat that wouldn’t go away now hard you tried. You coughed slightly and took a winded breath, and told Kurloz the basis of the situation. You didn’t want to tell him even that, but you needed his help if you wanted to help Cronus. Once you had finished your explanation, he simply nodded and slid the book towards you.   
“wow. I’m honestly surprised you believe me” and he laughed, the noise coming out in a raspy noise that sent a small chill down your spine. You tried to smile at him and sipped at your tea, cautious of your next question.   
“Kurloz…..why..why do you believe me” he calmly signs to you  
“I have my reasons” and pointed towards the book.  
“The bones” he signed, you felt your eyebrows go up, sure you had interpreted wrong.   
“the bones?” and he nodded, pointing back at the book. You had a moment of oh! and you remembered why you were here, and you leaned forward to look at the book. Pictures showing spirits being expelled from bone men, a lot of in written text sat beside the images, and you felt your stomach slightly roll at the memory of Cronus’s and Meenah’s death things. Blood and water. As Kurloz explained more, you learned that spirits are usually tied to places or things, most often the bones of the person. After a few moments, Meulin reappeared from the hallway and placed a bundle of dried twigs in front of you.   
“it’s sage” she told you, pulling a book form the the stack and placing it in front of you alongside the herb stick. She explained how to use it, and you stuffed both into your bag, standing from the table, you waved to Kurloz, and he stood up, leaning slightly across the table towards you.   
“Tell Cronus I said Hello” He signed and waved goodbye, smiling at you as Meulin pulled you the room. She stopped just outside the front door with you,   
“and don’t worry Kankitty, you’re secrets are safe with us” she blew you a kiss before shutting the door behind her. You high tailed it to your car, slamming the door. You felt a lump form in your chest as it occurred to you that you never told Kurloz Cronus’s name. You jammed your key into the ignition and flung your car into reverse and drove away as fast as you could.   
They really gave you the heebie jeebies, which was astounding, since you hang out with dead people.


	14. Free falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It begins, and i'm sorry

“Cronus?” you called, kicking the front door shut behind you. You took your bag off of your shoulder and dug through it until you produced your flashlight, but before you could even turn it on, Cronus appeared with a candelabra filled with lit candles.   
“hey Kanny” he smiled at you, and the two of you instantly travelled up the large staircase and into his room, where you flopped down onto the edge of the now familar bed. You slept here just as often as you did at your actual house, so no cloud of dust rose to greet you. You began pulling things out of your backpack, including your ipod, the book and the sage stick. You had read a small bit off the book before you came over, just enough to make sure you knew what to do. Cronus was instantly playing with your ipod, pulling up a song and tapping along, standing up and dancing around the room by the first chorus. You smiled slightly, rolling your eyes at him and you plunged deeper into your bag, searching for something you didn’t carry often. after a few minutes, you produced the small silver lighter that you had hidden in your room for years for when porrim came over. even though you constantly chastised her for smoking, that didn’t stop you from keeping the lighter. You flicked the metal wheel, expecting the small flame to erupt, but nothing. You tried again, and again, nothing. It sounded empty when you shook it, you sighed in exasperation and tossed it across the room, it landing in the chair by the fire place. Cronus took notice and came over, locking the ipod so the music shut off.   
“Kankri?” she asked your name, sinking against the mattress beside you.   
“The lighter wouldn’t work, do you have one?” Cronus laughed and pointed at the light candelabra. and suddenly you felt a little stupid. laughing it off, Cronus brought over the candle holder, and you held the smudge stick against the flame until a steady smoke rose from it. it gave off a sickly sweet scent, and you gagged a little at the first inhale. You walked slowly around the room, letting the smoke fill the room and rise up. You turned to find Cronus still intact, staring at the smoke with raised eyebrows.   
“do you feel anything?” you asked, and he shook his head, he crossed to the door and called out for Meenah, who came up through the floor.   
“what the shell do you want” she crossed her arms and flopped into the chair with the discarded lighter. she frowned when she felt it, reaching beneath her and tossing it aside.   
“Do you feel anything?” you asked her and she raised an eyebrow at you  
“no, am i supposed to?” she asked, running one of her braids through her hands. You looked at Cronus and the both of you shrugged, Meenah looked up and frowned at the smoke. Opening the window beside her, she stood and headed for the door, passing Cronus with  
“Cronus, you know what they say about cigarettes, they’ll kill ya” and she faded away with a laugh that still hung in the room.   
“well, that sucked” you tossed the remainder of the sage stick, preparing to dig through the book until you find an answer when you realized the herbs sickly sweet scent ha clung to you.   
“Don’t vworry about it Kanny, if evwery porkchop was perfect, wve wvouldn’t havwe hotdogs” Cronus said as he jumped and landed in the center of the bed, already unlocking your IPod and resuming the video.   
“Cronus, i’m going to go take a shower, i smell like that stuff now” you said, collecting your bag from the floor. Cronus waved you off with a see you when you get out and began singing along to the video, you couldn’t help but smile at the dorkiness of your best friend, and you fleetingly thought for a second if him and Porrim would get along.   
The thought passed as quickly as it came as the smell of the sage threatened to make you sick. You made it to the main floor, taking the stairs a little harder than normal, including the ones leading downstairs. You had to turn your flashlight on at this point, you made it hastily down one flight of stairs and made it to the first landing, you glanced down the empty hall before thudding down the second set of stairs. The stairs creaked more than normal, but you brushed it off as you hadn’t been this way in a while.   
You suddenly realize that you made a grave mistake, as you are now laying flat in your back, staring at a fresh, kankri sized hole in the staircase above you. You flashlight had landed near you, but had turned off. You rubbed at your back, grumbling to yourself as you reached out to grope for your flashlight. You fingers enclosed around the cool thickness of the flashlight, but you couldn’t find the switch. the more you felt it, the more confused you became, you brought it close to your face. Surely the switch was here some ARE THOSE BONES You let out a small scream and flung the thin bone away from you, scrambling back until you hit the wall, you found your flashlight beside you, shakingly flicking it on, you shined it and sure enough, meters away from you, laid a small skelton, the thick dress had mostly decomposed around the slight frame. You started to panic, you needed to get Cronus.   
“Cronus?!” you shouted as best you could at the hole  
“Kankri?” a voice asked, but not Cronus’s. You turned and sen Feferi standing beside you, looking at you in puzzlement.   
“Feferi, i need cRonus’s help to get out of here, there are bones in here” you whispered to her, scared of your own voice and afraid the bones would hear. You shined the flashlight over and showed Feferi, and she instantly perked up.   
“Kankri, that’s me!” she rushed over to the skeleton and sat crossed legged beside it, placing one of her tiny fish on the rib cage.   
“what?” you eventually managed  
“these are my bones, thats me” she repeated, picking up the creaking arm and staring at a object that rested loosely against one of the fingers. she plucked it off and held it in her hands, smiling at it.   
“I remember now” she told you quietly, you carefully sat near her. Feferi or not, you weren’t thrilled by the idea of being so near a skeleton.   
“what do you remember, Fef?” you asked, she smiled at you  
“I remember how i died”  
~~~~~~  
“it was a really hot day, i mean it was so hot outside, so Eridan and i were playing inside that day. Mom was gone, and Cronus and Meenah were out. Uncle was the only one around, but he was locked in mom’s office” Feferi began as she held in one hand the object she pulled form the bones and in the other, the slim, bony hand it came from.   
“We we’re playing hide and seek, i hid upstairs, but Eridan found me pretty easily, and we started running, Ms Rosa always said not to run in the house, but she wasn’t there that day either, she went with mom. I lost Eridan on the second floor, and i made it upstairs to the balcony outside the back yard” small tears welled in her eyes at the memory  
“it’s not his fault, and i don’t think he knows that” and to add to your complete and utter horror, Feferi began to cry. You hugged her as she cried, and after a long ten minutes, he sobs turned into hiccups and she pushed away from you slightly. not leaving the embrace but not leaning on you entirely anymore.   
“I fell, from the balcony that day, I remember falling, it was the most terrifying peaceful thing, i remember the blue sky above me, the feeling of falling, but i didn't even have time to be afraid. I was falling and then nothing, this darkness that i couldn’t escape, and then i woke up in my bed in the house, I thought it was all a dream, but i couldn’t find anyone that day, so i just played by myself, they came home several days later, by then i had kinda pieced together what had happened”  
she wiped the tears from her face, and when she smiled at you, she looked so much older than an eight year old that your heart broke, you hugged her again and this time she hugged you tightly and pressed the small, cool object into your hand.  
“Give this to Eridan, and tell him it’s not his fault, and that i love him, all of them”  
She hugged you again and giggled as she disappeared, waving at you as she went. You sat there for a second before you started to call for her, but she didn’t respond or come back. Meenah did poke her head in the hole and laugh at you,   
“I can’t believe you fell through the stairs, guppy. c’mon, up you go” she smiled as she offered her hand down, you clutched the object and used your free hand to grab Meenah’s, she hauled you up with ease. slapping you in the back when she got you level. She began a witty remake again but you cut her off.  
“Meenah, i’m so sorry” she raised an eyebrow  
“for what, the staircase? it’s fine” she shrugged and stood, helping you stand you stopped her.   
“It’s Feferi, i’m sorry” you tried to start again  
“what, did Fefi pull a prank on you, don’t worry Guppy, she’s just takes after me” she laughed and you shook your head.   
“Meenah, I’m sorry, she’s gone” Her laugh died out and she stared at you confused  
“what do you mean gone”   
You held up the small object into the beam of the flashlight, it turns out it was a small ring, silver with a purple gem in the middle. Meenah’s jaw dropped and she started stammering, none of her sentences coming out right when you Eridan shout from behind you.   
“WHERE DID YOU GET THAT”


	15. Morning Sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay, and i told y'all it was about to get sad. thank you to all the readers and commenters, my morial and i love you all very much, and hope you stay with us for the rest of what ghost. and hell, maybe we'll see a few of you on the upcomng drug cartel au, heres hoping. !  
> ~~Zaiden and Mary  
> ~~Lexxiekra

You never thought a day would come where you would see Meenah cry, but as you began recounting what just happened, you saw tears slide down her face. it made a lump form in your throat that was hard to talk around. You handed the ring to Eridan with the message Feferi had told you, and tears brimmed in his eyes before he vanished. Meenah slid down the wall and pulled her knees to her chest, her body shook with the force of her tears, and you knelt beside her and rested a hand on her shoulder, she launched herself at you, hugging you tightly before vanishing as well. You had barely stood up before Cronus appeared  
“Eridan just filled me in” he said, staring down into the hole in the staircase  
“Thank you” He mumbled as sounds of screaming and crashing erupted upstairs. Cronus looked up and vanished, and you called after him.   
“there aren't any stairs to get up!” he reappeared  
“Sorry Kanny” he quickly wrapped a hand around your wrist and pulled you against him, and then you had the oddest sensation you ever experienced and when you opened your eyes, you were in the main hall. Cronus released you and ran up the stairs, you following suit once you regained your balance and the jelliness of your legs went away. You didn’t have to go far, you found Cronus and Meenah in the upstairs floor, sunlight and fresh air streamed in through the now torn open windows. Following the sound, you found Meenah ripping the boards off the library’s large window with her hands, Cronus behind her trying to talk her into calming down. She completed the window and screamed, it hurt your ears and you saw Cronus flinch a little too, she turned and punched him square in the face, Cronus stumbled back, everyone in the room surprised. Meenah started crying again, Cronus wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she shook  
“its better than being trapped here forever” he said to her and she eventually let herself be sat down in the chair at the large desk close by. You sat down in a nearby chair and watched the sky turn pink through the now open window, the night air wafting in and making you realize how musty the room was. You watched the saturday morning stars disappear in silence as Meenah’s sounds got quieter and quieter, eventually they stopped and you glanced over, Meenah had fallen asleep against Cronus. you got up to help him but he waved you away, disappearing with her and appearing against a few minutes later. he flopped down into the chair beside you and ran his hands through his hair  
“thank you kanny” he repeated.   
“So what now?” you ask, staring at Cronus  
“wvell, for right novw, wve enjoy this sunrise. it’s been a wvhile since i’vwe seen one” he smiled and rested his head in his hand, staring at the morning colours.   
“Wve’ll figure the rest out as wve go” you nodded and leaned back in your chair, staring out the hole in the wall. you suppose Cronus was right, at least now you knew that you had to find the bones. and if Feferi was buried in the house, you figure so must the others. or you hope, anyway.


	16. Party hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> revamped and more, shits going down

You watched the sun rise well past the horizon, and was hours before either of you spoke.   
“I should be going” you stood and stretched awkwardly, Cronus standing and walking with you towards the door  
“yeah, gotta get back to reality” he mused as he walked you all the way to the front door, where you expected a goodbye, but instead Cronus walked with you all the way to your car, he waited till you were inside and then leaned down to the window.  
“Kanny” you rolled down the window and waited as Cronus looked like he was having trouble trying to word what he wanted to say  
“I don’t really wvant you to, but could you hang back a fevw days and let Meenah mellovw out?”  
he asked, his expression giving you the impression he expected you to be mad  
‘Of course Cronus, I do have some stuff it won’t hurt to catch up on, hold on’ you reached into your glove compartment and pulled out your spare cellphone, checking it still worked, and giving Cronus both the phone and the solar powered charger you had.   
“My number is on there, under my name, so just call me when you think it’s fine for me to come back over” you smiled at him, and he smiled back, glad you weren’t mad at him. With a wave you pulled out of the driveway and headed towards civilization, leaving Cronus staring down at the phone in question.   
~~

 

You had been away from Cronus’s house for three days now, and you had finally gotten used to sleeping in your own bed again, although you missed the whole batch of them. Not to mention Karkat was driving you insane, you would think that a twelve year old would have something better to do with his time, but no. So here you were, sitting on the couch Karkat occupying the other area, pestering you with questions about the non existent girl.  
“So how ugly are we talking?” he asked again with a nudge to get your attention  
“Karkat for the last time-”  
“like, Hillary Clinton ugly, or guy fieri ugly?” you had enough and turned to glare at your younger sibling  
“Karkat, for the last time, I do not have a girlfriend, so stop asking silly questions” he stared at you before a smile creeped onto his face, you sighed and rubbed your hands over your face.  
“what now?”  
“so it’s a guy” he stated, leaning towards you  
“what?” your head snapped up and you stared at him  
“nothing” he said, rushing upstairs with his phone in hand. you groaned and texted Porrim, you could not handle another night of your brother. So much, that within the hour, you were in the car and on your way to Porrim’s little green house. When you knocked on the front door, Kanaya let you in and waved you upstairs, talking on the phone and you could hear Karkat on the other line. Even here you can’t escape.   
When you knocked you were mildly surprised when Damara opened the door, flashing you a grin and letting you inside. She paced over and flopped down onto the bed, her short red dress riding up and giving you a view of too much of her long legs for your comfort, so instead you turned your attention to Porrim, who sat perched on her desk painting her toenails, her black dress folded around her so she could reach. she glanced up and smiled at you  
“Hey Kanny” before she stopped and gave you a once over  
“Kanny, please tell me that’s not what you’re wearing?” she questioned, you glanced around in confusion just in time to see Damara smack the back of Rufioh head, he apologized about looking and went back to fiddling with the studs on his jacket. You glance back at Porrim.  
“What?” you ask, you have no idea what she means, and she sighs, pushing off of the desk, gathering her skirt in her hands so she doesn’t rub the polish on it, she shuffles towards the closet and starts going through the section of her closet dedicated to you and your other male friends, in case of a “fashion disaster” as Porrim sometimes put it.   
“You know? to the party?” she said into her closet, making it kind of hard to understand her. You glanced at the other two then at the calendar on the wall by Porrim’s desk. December third, it clicked in your head and you mentally smacked yourself. The Strider twins birthday party. even though none of you were friends with them, you still went every year. Mostly because you had trouble saying no to Roxy, their sister. But then again, almost everyone had trouble saying no to Roxy. A knock at the door snapped you out of your thoughts in time to catch the clothes Porrim tossed at you, she opened the door, Meulin, Kurloz, and Horrus shuffled into the room, making the room seem a lot smaller than it was. Damara stood up and grabbed her red purse from the nightstand, She blew you all a kiss, winked at Porrim and her, Kurloz and Horrus exited. Porrim smiled at that and went back to painting her nails, you stopped Meulin in the doorway before she could leave.  
“Oh, Merlin, i’m afraid the sage you gave me didn’t work” you seen Kurloz appear again in the hallway and wrap his arms around Merlin's waist.   
“oh, that wasn’t sage Kan Kitty” and she waved as Kurloz tugged her down the hallway, those two had a hard time keeping their hands off of each other sometimes. You ogled at her words but rushed to change and Porrim’s prompting. 

 

when you had come back, you wore a long black sweater and red skinny jeans, Porrim gave you a seal of approval in the black lipstick stamp on your cheek before she started to slip on her heels, The two of you made your way towards the door and turned back to see Rufioh hadn’t moved from his spot on the floor.   
“Rufioh?” You called, he ran a hand through his hair  
“I just don't see why we go, none of us are friends with the twins, they’re kind of douchebags” he shrugged and didn’t move, Porrim pulled out her cell phone.   
“well, i’ll just get Roxy and you can tell her that yourself” she smiled and pretended to scroll through her phone, Rufioh stood up quickly, shrugging his jacket onto his shoulders. If anyone missed the Memo that fringe jackets weren’t a thing anymore, it was Definitely Rufioh. He passed by the both of you and Porrim locked her phone with a grin. Like you said, everyone had a hard time telling Roxy no.  
~~~~~

 

PORRIM POV  
You pulled your little bug on the road that led to the Strilonde Manor, even from half a mile away you could see the lights of the house and yard. You swung into the large circle drive, and befor you rested the largest Mansion anyone had ever seen. The house housed the nine Striders and Lalondes, There was Roxy, your favorite of the group, Rose, The twins, Dave and Darren  
, their older brother Dirk, D, and the one just called Bro, then there was Mom and Aunt Lalonde. all of them somehow managed not to kill each other while sleeping under the same roof, even every once in while Darren will show off this big scar he has on his chest. And sometimes you get to catch a glimpse of the tat he has on his back, big orange wings that fill his entire back. By the time you make it to the front door you are shivering a little, and you are greeted by Roxy, she comes over and hugs you, and this gives Kankri enough time to slip inside before Roxy hands him a drink, which she does to you and Rufioh, both of you taking sips of the sweet liquid. The party was a blast, even if the only time you seen the guest of honor is when all of the brothers mattress race down the large main staircase, Darren wins and slaps his twin on the back, before the two of them disappear into the crowd, never to be seen again. The lalondes hang around a bit more dignified, all of them do something important, D is a director, Dirk is a world famous roboticist, Mom lalonde is a writer and so his her sister, and the most amusing is Bro is the ruler of a kink porn empire. You had heard plenty about it from Roxy, who chooses you to rant to, and while you found it a little distasteful, it was pretty all around amusing. As the party wore down, people spilled out of the house and onto the lawn, The guardians making rounds outside to either move passed out kids inside of cover them in a mess of blankets. You found yourself wedged between Damara and Kankri, Roxy would pass by occasionally and Refill Kankri’s drink, which he hadn’t touched except to pour its contents into yours or Rufioh glass. Horus was passed out and Kurloz was busy drawing a dick on his face when the last of your group appeared Latula came through the crowd dragging Mituna behind her, the plopped down on the floor next to the couch you occupied. Kankri excused himself to the bathroom, and while he was gone Roxy set a new drink down for him. The conversation turned quietly to Kankri’s love life, and the mystery girl, when you mentioned casually.   
“Kanaya and Karkat seem to think that it’s not a girl” everyone stared at you in confusion until Meulin squealed loud enough to make several people glanced her way.   
“I never even thought of that, of course Kankri is probably gay” and with this, everyone dissolved into excited conversation. Kankri returned shorty, sighing at the new drink he found waiting for him  
“what did I miss” he asked and you shrugged before flipping the subject  
“if you don’t want that drink, Damara might want it” and as soon as you had said it, Damara had clutched the glass and down the entirety. then she stood and disappeared without a word. When Kankri questioned the conversation topic, you couldn’t help but giggle a little.   
~~~~~~~~  
Kankri POV

~~THE NEXT DAY~~  
You blinked awake slowly, your view slightly obscured by a tangle of black hair. You huffed and tried to untangle yourself but only succeeded in making Porrim shift closer against you. You sighed and resigned yourself to your fate and glanced around. You were half laying on a couch in the living room in the strilonde manor, Porrim was asleep half on top of you and half beside you, Damara was asleep on the ground next to the couch, Rufioh was asleep beside her, cuddled against Horuss, you didn’t see Meulin, Kurloz, Mituna, and Latula anywhere. you wonder where the rest of your group; went as you seen a few guests wander to the door and out into the december sunlight. You sighed again and rolled your head up, fear stopping the scream in your throat as you registered Mullins smiling face mere inches away from yours. Her a few strands of her hair fell on to her forehead and she pushed them back against the rest of her hair that was in a bun, still smiling, she whispered to you  
“Hey Kankitty” you failed to reply as the scream was still a little stuck in your throat, you nodded to her and tried to shift away, only succeeding in making porrim shift more on you again.   
“Kurloz left, but Lalonde is making breakfast, and then Kurloz said you have to go back to the house today” she moved around the couch, carefully stepping over Damara and wiggled her arms under Porrim.   
“Meulin, I have to wait till he calls” you finally began explaining as she lifted Porrim off of you, you scrambled out from underneath Porrim and Meulin laid her back onto the couch. Which lasted a whole three seconds before Porrim rolled off the couch onto to Damara and flung her arms around the other female. Meulin giggled and pushed you towards the kitchen, where you could smell and hear the process of breakfast being made. Upon entering you seen the various host family members scattered throughout the kitchen. Bro, D, Mom and Aunt londe and Darren all sat at the table, drinking coffee, Rose, Dirk, and Dave sat at the island facing the stove, where a plump girl with short dark stood flipping pancakes into a massive stack as she talked to Roxy, who sat on the counter beside the stove, sipping at a oversized mug of coffee. you and Meulin slid onto two of the remains stools and watched as the dark haired girl, who thanks to Roxy, you learned is named Jane, slid stacked plates of pancakes, bacon, eggs, biscuits, pastries, waffles, and hashbrowns onto the other end of the island, along with a variety of drinks and a huge stack of plates. Meulin slid down and made you both a plate, you watched as everyone shuffled forward to get their food, the food was the best breakfast you ever had. You made it through most of your plate before Meulin chugged her glass of juice and stood up.   
“We have to go Kankitty Kurloz is back” she said, you frowned but stood up, taking your half eaten pastry with you. Meulin led you outside, waving to various people as the two of you passed. Outside, Kurloz waited beside a purple car, as you climbed in, you noticed that even the car was covered in small green polka dots. You shuddered and buckled yourself in, waiting for Meulin and Kurloz to get in, who had taken the time to embrace like they hadn’t seen each other in years instead of hours. As they got in, your phone began to ring, as you slid it out of your pocket you noted the low battery and answered it. The other end was silent before  
“Kanny? Kanny can you hear me” Cronus’s voice crackled through the receiver  
“yes Cronus I can hear you fine”  
“Kanny, this phone is weird”  
“Cronus, is there a reason you called?”   
“yeah, Meenah’s chilled off, Eridan’s still a little salty, but it’s alright, so you can come over whenever”  
“actually Cronus i’m on my way there right now, Meulin and Kurloz are dropping me off”  
“oh, damn you’re with Meulin, can i talk to her?” you felt your eyebrows raise in confusion  
“Cronus I don’t think that’s a good idea”   
“nah, nah chief, i promise it’s fine, unless she’s driving”  
“no, Kurloz is driving” Meulin turned around in her seat and stared at you  
“well, since he can’t talk to me at the moment” Cronus laughed and you seen Kurloz smile in the rearview mirror, you gave up and handed the phone to Meulin, who smiled and greeted Cronus..it was weird hearing a one sided conversation that mainly consisted of Myelin assuring Cronus that she had something, and that he would be getting it soon. Meulin hung up and returned your phone and handed you a green box, sealing the box was a green ribbon. Kurloz turned onto the road to Cronus’s house, and before you even really had time to question how he knew where to go, they were waving and driving away. leaving you more than a little confused, clutching the green box, you turned around and for the first time in months, Cronus scared the crap out of you. He stood there, bouncing on the balls of his feet, his eyes moving between the box and you, you held out the box and Cronus snagged it, opening the lid with a whoop of joy and he began shoving….Brownies? into his mouth, he ate about three before he slowed down enough to greet you  
“hey kan” he said with a mouth full of chocolate brownie,  
“Cronus, can you even eat?” he stopped and swallowed before smiling and taking another bite  
of course i can, i don’t need to, but i love these fuckin brownies“  
“Cronus language” you replied, and he smiled like he did the first time you told him that, and it made you suddenly really amazed at how far the two of you have come in this wacky friendship.   
“Sorry Kankri, I just really love these brownies, highlight of being dead”  
“Cronus...that’s” and door slammed open and Eridan meached out onto the front porch, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes narrowed at you  
“oh great, you’re back, you ARE THOSE MULLINS BROWNIES” Cronus instantly started trying to shove all the remaining brownies in his mouth, while simultaneously screaming no. Eridan yelled and jumped off the porch, running towards the two of you, Cronus backed up a few steps and then stopped, you turned and stared in horror as Eridan started convulsing, Cronus shoved the box back into your hands and scooped Eridan up, running towards the house. He was halfway to the porch when you saw the blood running down Eridan’s face, you started running after them, by the time you made it to the porch, Eridan had stopped convulsing and you sat leaning against Cronus. Breathing heavily, you kneeled beside them.   
“what the hell was that?” You asked in panic  
“we can’t leave, or that happens” Eridan explained  
“but Cronus can go in the yard” you asked, staring at Cronus for an explanation  
“yeah, but i’m the only one who can, the farthest everyone else can go is the porches or the balconies” Cronus carried Eridan inside and led you to the nearest living room, sitting down with Eridan on the couch, you set the box on the table and sat on the other end, by Eridan’s legs.   
“i’m sorry bro, i wasn’t thinking” Cronus whispered to Eridan and he ran a hand through his younger brothers hair. You wiggled out your shirt that you were wearing underneath your sweater, and leaned forward, cleaning the blood off of Eridan, only slightly grossed out when the blood got on your hands. slightly more creeped out when you realized the blood was cold, cold like a dead person’s blood would be. Cronus reached forward once Eridan was cleaned up and set the box of brownies on his chest, he pulled one out and nibbled on it while Cronus continued to mumble apologies and petting his hair. you stood up  
“Cronus, are there any other bathrooms that have running water? I need to wash off my hands” Cronus looked up at you, his expression as if he just now remembered that you were there.   
“i have no idea, honestly, you can check” he shrugged and went back to Eridan. You walked out of the door and tried the door right beside the living room, and what you found was not a bathroom, but a ballroom. a large, gold and pink chandelier hung from the center of the room, the white floor was dusty, but still shiny. The way the room settled around you made you think no one had been in here in a very long time, alive or otherwise. You walked down the room, following your reflection in the full length mirrors that lined the sides. in all your exploring of the house, you had never been in here. But you could see it, the way this room was and felt, dozens of people dancing, Cronus and Eridan in suits, Meenah and Feferi spinning around with each other. it made you a little sad before you remembered what you were looking for, and left the ballroom.you had made it a few steps down the hallway when you heard Meenah shout  
“ARE THOSE MUELINS BROWNIES” followed by a mutual chorus of no’s and then the sound of running. Eridan round past you, face in terror clutching the box to chest. Cronus followed soon after, followed by an angry Meenah. you heard the front door swing open and   
“cro catch!” and then the sound of Cronus running around the house laughing  
you checked two more rooms and as you passed by the back door, you glanced out on of the windows and saw Meenah holding Eridan in a headlock, you rolled your eyes and opened the door  
“Cronus, do you need a reminder of what just happened?” Cronus’s smile faded and he handed the box to Meenah  
“sorry Nah” he said and stepped over to where you were, as soon as Meenah wasn’t looking he busted out into a grin  
“Cronus! there’s only three left” And Cronus laughed and disappeared, Eridan following after him, there laughter could still be heard and Meenah angrily shoved the last three brownies into her mouth. You closed the door and headed down the staircase, hoping to find a bathroom that works. You glanced down the staircase that led to the very bottom floor and shuddered. you checked all the rooms, none of the bathrooms worked until you reached the one at the very end of the hall, right beside Eridan’s room. When you turned the handle, it sputtered a little, getting your hopes up before it stopped, and then nothing happened. You sighed and sank back against the wall, sliding down and stopping when you heard a horrifying creak , you froze in horror, remembering the staircase and you quickly spang away from that spot. when none of the other boards creaked, you tentatively stepped on that spot again, and sure enough, a high whine came from it. you tested it again and again, before calling for Cronus. it took a minute, but he appeared, still laughing until he saw your expression.   
“what’s up?” he asked, you walked around the spot, then stepped on it, letting the creak fill the silence.  
“Cronus there’s something wrong with this floor, get me something to pry it up with” Cronus made an offended gesture  
“Kanny, you need to stop just rippin up our house, we care about this place-” he began laughing so hard he couldn’t finish his sentence  
“yeah, i’ll be right back with a crowbar” and he disappeared, leaving you to stare at the odd floor spot, terror and curiosity brewing inside you.


	17. Swing form the chandelier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING  
> suicide, mention of suicide really, he talks about it, I am literally sorry for this chapter. You can skip this chapter if you want, ther est of the story will continue on, it's oaky you don't need to read it if you're gonna be triggered  
> ~`lexxiekra

The darkness of the bathroom seemed to stretch out around you forever while you kneeled next to weak boards of the floor, after a very long few minutes, Cronus reappeared with a Crowbar, thanking him you took it from his hands you wedged it between a sold board at the first week board and steeled yourself, your stomach doing a few flips and rolls in response to how nervous you were. You didn’t know what was down here, and after Feferi, you were a little afraid to find out. pushing down as hard as you could, you felt a small relief flood you when the board didn’t so much as budge. You moved to the other side and pushed down again, this time the board popped loose on one end. Cronus grabbed ahold of the crobar and helped you push down, and one by one the boards came loose. The two of you sat in silence as the hole had became big enough for you to get in. You shined your flashlight into the hole, revealing a small crawlspace. When you didn’t immitaly seeing anything that made you terrified, your heartbeat slowed a little and you wiggled down into the hole. It wasn’t a very deep space, so you had to crouch slightly, but it thankfully wasn’t a very large space either, as you moved further in, You for once didn’t jump when you seen the flicker of Cronus in your side vision, the two of you move through the space until you to a back wall, still in the length of the bathroom above you, in the back corner, to your horror, sat a lump. Shining the light directly on it, revealing a small pile of bones. Cronus sighed  
“it’s not me” you tried and failed to ignore the disappointment in his voice. Kneeling beside them, you stared at them.   
“they look too small to be Meenah’s” you comment, and turn to look at Cronus. he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, shrugging out of shirt, he laid it on the ground and bundled the bones into it. floating up, he pulled you up through the hole and you leaned against the wall. thankful he didn’t phase you again. he sat the shirt full of bones on the ground and disappeared, leaving you alone in the semi darkness for what seemed like several minutes before the door opened and Meenah entered, your throat seized up at the expression on her face, it grew as you seen Cronus and Eridan enter behind her. you slid down and sat against the wall, leaving the light shining on the bones.   
“they’re not mine” Meenah said quietly, confirming the nervous energy the room was filled with. Cronus wrapped an arm around Eridan’s shoulders, Meenah came and sat close by you, knees pulled to her chest.   
Cronus came to sit between you and Meenah, leaving Eridan to stare at the bones and for all of you to stare at him before he finally glanced up.   
“wwhat?” he asked,   
“do you remember?” “are you gonna tell us what happened?” Cronus and Meenah asked at simultaneously. Eridan’s face screwed up in disgust  
“you really don’t wwanna hear about” and after seeing the obvious “yeah we do” expression on all of your faces, he sighed and came over, sitting so his back was to all of you hand he scooted back so he was leaning against Cronus.   
“It wwas my fault she fell” he started out, you saw Meenah open her mouth but shut it again.   
“Bein in this house everyday, how empty it seemed without her” both Cronus and Meenah nodded in agreement.   
“I just couldn’t take it anymore” he took a shaky breathe  
“one day i was in the ballroom and i couldn’t take it anymore, I told the guy who fixed stuff that there was something on the chandelier, and he took out the latter and that’s when it got messed up, I almost didn't get to do it, because he was going to realize i lied and take the ladder away. But then Cronus and Rosa needed him, so he just left it as it was” both you and Meenah glanced at Cronus and your heart shattered at the absolute terror and sadness that was there.  
“I remember waking up layin on the floor, i thought maybe it didn't work, the rope broke, but surely the fall would killed me, but then i seen me, well my body, still attached to the chandelier. this isn't’ what i imagined the afterlife would be like”  
“I was so angry, then I heard Rosa scream, and she ran through the doorway, and that woman hauled herself up that ladder faster than anyone i’ve ever seen, she was too late o course, I heard dad and aunt Condy in the hallway, she called me an it”  
“get rid of it” he made air quotes and mimicked a high pitched tone, his voice wavering slightly.   
“I was just so mad, at everything, they took me away and after that, I forgot why i was in the ballroom. I just knew I was dead and Meenah was trying to get the nanny to stop crying, so after i figured out they couldn’t exactly see me, I went back to my room. and I opened the door, and there was Feferi, waiting for me like i had just got out of school or some shit” he laughed, Cronus wrapped his arms around him in a backwards hug, tears streaking down his face. Meenah had been wiping hers away, and most of yours had been blinked back and burning your eyes. making everything hard to see.   
“then you two joined us, and it was okay again” he turned around and hugged his brother, not letting go for a long time before turning towards Meenah and hugged her tightly. at last he turned towards you  
“Thank you for doing what you did for Feferi, take care of these two” he wrapped his small arms around you in a tight hug, you quickly returned the gesture before he pulled away  
“If reincarnation is real, I’ll want Muelin to make me a whole pound of brownies” Cronus laughed sadly, wiping at the tears on his face.   
“stop cryin would y’all” he smiled, his own tears drying on his face.   
“can’t go out lookin like a bunch o babies” and then he flickered once, and was gone. Cronus stared at the spot where he stood for a minute before all of you were full out crying.   
Meenah leaned forward once her sobs had turned into hiccups  
“Me too okay? I wanna go too, i shore don’t wanna be here alone once he goes” she jerked a thumb at cronus. you nodded and settled back against the wall, half leaning on cronus. two down, two to go.


	18. Photographs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> theres like four chapters left of what ghost!

~~~~  
By the time you had all moved back upstairs, the tears and emotions had between the three of you had calmed.   
“alright, Meenah, if you don’t mind postponing the search for a few hours, i am in desperate need of a nap” you yawned and glanced longingly at the stairs, thinking of the soft bed you had spent so many sleeps in already.   
“yeah, a last nap sounds pretty great actually” she and you walked up the stairs, Cronus shuffling along behind you. To your surprise, Meenah opened the door to Cronus’s room and started kicking off her boots. Cronus shuffled in behind you, still mildly dazed as he collapsed onto his bed and flung an arm over his face, you asked him if he was okay as you wriggled out of your sweater, thankful to finally be in your t-shirt, but after you had untangled yourself from the thick fabric, you found that Cronus was already asleep. Meenah had rolled the blanket out from under Cronus and tossed it over him, she stood beside the bed.   
“I hate the middle” she shrugged and you walked over to the side where she stood, you slid under the blanket beside Cronus and relaxed instantly against the softness of the bed. You felt only slightly awkward and the bed behind you sank down with Meenah’s weight. You didn’t have time to dwell on it long as sleep tugged at you hard, you gave in, falling asleep snuggled in between Cronus and Meenah.   
~a few hours later  
you awoke slowly, blinking and opening and closing your mouth a few times trying to chase away the dregs of sleep, but you were startled awake when you glanced over at Meenah and saw she was slowly sinking into the bed, only a few inches of the front of her body remained above the bed, the rest sinking into the springs. Glancing to Cronus, you found he was stil sound asleep, an arm thrown across your lap. You shook him awake slightly  
“Cronus, Meenah is phasing through the bed”  
“she does that, it just means sh’ really asleep hard” he mumbled at you and turned so his face was buried in the pillow. You went to move him so he wouldn’t suffocate, but then you remembered, he was already dead. You turned back around and watched as the rest of Meenah dissapeared through the bed and eventyually the floor. You shook Cronus awake and he woke fully this time, stretching and yawning.  
“Hey kanny, Where’s nah?” he asked you sitting up and rolling his sounders again for good measure. You just pointed down and he glanced down  
“yeah she does that”  
“so do you have any idea where you or Meenah might be buried?” Before Cronus could even properly answer, the bedroom door to Cronus’s room swung open, making both of you jump as it hit the wall hard.   
“LETS FIN MY FINE ASS BODY” She pulled her boots back on from where she discarded them prior nap and waited for you two. Slowly the bed emptied, and you found yourselves in the main hall.   
“so, any idea at where either of you might be buried?”   
“yes Kanny, we know exactly where we are buried, that’s totally not why we’ve spent the last eternity in this shithole”   
“I really don’t appreciate your sarcasm, Nah” you told her and she cracked a grin  
“sorry, i’m just excited to get outta here”   
“yeah, me too” Cronus commented and wandered towards the first room closest to you.   
“so Kanny, where do you wanna start lookin’?” both of them turned to stare at you  
“oh, well, we could try Meenah’s room?” you suggested, and she thought about it for a second before nodding and phasing upstairs, You instantly jumped away from Cronus before he could grab you and phase up, and you ran up the stairs, Cronus already waiting for you in the upper hall.  
“would have been quicker to phase you up, you know” and you just shook your head and paused outside Meenah’s door  
“Never again” and you felt a shudder go through you at the memory before you slowly swung open Meenah’s door, she stood by the torn open window and stared down at the street.   
“it’s supposed to snow tonight” you comment, making her jump a little.   
“aight, so where do we start” she moved a chair and pressed down on the floor beneath it  
“well that’s one way to start, Cronus, will you help me check the walls” he nodded and helped you, each of you going in a different direction a pressing against the wall, hallways through Cronus floated up and pressed against the ceiling  
“hey, this spot is janked” he called out, both you and Meenah rushed to stand under him as he phased up into the ceiling. he came back done a little while later and shook his head  
“the only body up there was a racoon, poor bastard” you all continued to your search, moving from Meenah’s room to all the bedrooms on the floor, one of them neither of them wanted to search, so you sent them onto the next room while you searched the violently purple room. Everything was purple, the walls, the carpet, even the bed, on one wall hung a painting of Eridan, Cronus, and a man you recognized from the other paintings as their father. Smaller pictures were taped to the wall around it, pictures of Eridan and Cronus as children on a swing, Eridan looking terrified in his baby swing and tiny Cronus screaming with delight as a woman in green pushed him, the woman appeared in several other pictures, one where Eridan rode on her shoulders, there was even one where she was being climbed on by all four of them, Cronus and Meenah probably about ten, each clinging to her and and sticking their tongues out around her, Feferi looked about six and Eridan looked about nine, each clinging to her leg. You smiled at that, the woman in the picture was smiling so hard it hurt your face, she looked like the picture of complete and utter happiness. You didn’t see anymore of pictures of her, or anyone for that matter as you continued in your search through the room, one wall covered in war medals, some from the last decade, some dating back as far the early 1900s, clearly passed down. you didn’t find anything suspicious or corpse related in the room, and both Cronus and Meenah looked relieved when you told them so. You moved to the first floor and you searched four of the rooms, all of you skirting the ballroom , meeting up to take a break in the dining room, you flopped into a chair and Cronus sat on the table beside you. Meenah laid halfway on the table and sighed, the sound coming out strange since her face was smushed against the table  
“are we ever gonna find me” Cronus patted her on the back of her head, she haphazardly swatted at him, but made no motion besides that. After another moment of silence, she stood up  
“fuck this, we ain't eva gonna fin me” and she disappeared, knocking over several chairs as she did so.   
“Cronus where did she go?” he stared after he for a second, before turning towards you.   
“prolly down to her sulkin room, she is down there all the time” he shrugged and then turned to stare at you, his eyes wide  
“even tho i never knew why, she said the room creeped her out” you felt your eyes grow wide, and the was this stop in time, just you and Cronus staring at each other with the realization, then both of you were up and running. You two ran through the dining hall and towards the stairs, screaming Meenah’s name the whole way. in retrospect, Cronus could have phased down and beat you down there, but he didn’t, he ran, the two of you barely squeezing into the stairwell together, the two of you flew down the first stairs, still screaming for Meenah, the adrenaline high in your veins, you didn’t hesitate when you reached the hole, you had been running down the stairs so you took your momentum and you jumped, only worried about missing for a split second midair before you landed on the other side of the hole, wobbled slightly, and then kept running, Cronus laughing right beside you as you both raced down the hall, failing to stop properly outside of the book room and you slid into the wall, Cronus sliding against you before he just phased through you and past you into the wall, he appeared out of the other corner of the hallway a few seconds later, only to find you shuddering.   
“that counts, that totally counts i would rather you have squished me” you shook again and threw open the door, Meenah sitting in a chair, her knees pulled against her and her head on top of her knees, an eyebrow quirked at the two of you scrambling in through the doorway, but otherwise expressionless. You were out of breath, so Cronus explained  
“you said this room creeps ya out, right?” she stood up  
“yeah, never figured out why tho” Cronus made a gesture with his hands, and just stood there, waiting for Meenah to catch on.   
“oh” she said quietly  
“OH” she said a little more excitingly, starting to look around the room  
“where do we start?!?!”   
“Cronus go upstairs and get my bag, i need my flashlight” you had become adjusted to the encasing darkness,being able to see fairly well in it, but this was a job that needed light. Cronus returned and you flipped open your bag to find not your flashlight sitting on top, but a bright, small orange box with a white bow on top. You opened it, there was a note attached to the top of the box, digging out your flashlight, you opened the note. 

I was “told” you would need this  
-BRO

you raised your eyebrows and shone the light into the box, there was a little white and pink stuffed swordfish, you took the note and replaced the lid, calling over Meenah from where she was patting a section of the ceiling, you handed her the box and she pulled off the lid, smiling down at the toy. she wiped at her face and glanced away, setting the box carefully on a shelf,  
“alright let’s fin me”


	19. Goin Under

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time y'all, say goodbye to a boss ass bitch

the search of the downstairs room started pretty much how the search upstairs began, pressing against the floor while Meenah and Cronus phased into the walls and back out. By the time you had searched the entire area of the floor space, most of which was moving furniture since the room was packed with it, your attention had gone upwards. You stared at the family painting for a long moment before turning to Meenah just as she came out of a section of wall  
“Meenah, is that painting attached to the wall?” she shrugged and went over to it, with a little nudging her hand slid behind it  
“nah, it’s just chillin” you turned towards Cronus  
“can you and Meenah move that?” Meenah scoffed and started pulling, the painting slowly dragging until Cronus grabbed the other side and pushed, the large painting moving alot faster with the combined effort, they moved the painting to another section of the wall, the wall looked solid behind were the painting had been, but you still reached forward and knocked on the wall, Meenah even phased through it, it was solid all the way through. Meenah sighed and leaned against a bookcase, you stared at the bookcase, when Meenah caught your line of sight and scowled   
“what are you starin at” she snapped at you  
“the bookcases, can they be moved?”  
her expression relaxed when she realized you weren’t staring at her and at the bookcase, she nudged at it with her hand  
“prolly, it don’t look like it’s in the wall” you stepped forward and starting collecting the books on the shelf in small piles and placing them in neat stacks on the floor  
“kanny, what are you doin” Cronus asked you, standing to the side watching you make another small neat pile  
“It will be easier to move the book shelves if there's no books on them” Meenah snorted and phased her arm into the wall behind the case, swung her arm forward and you and Cronus stared in respective horror and bemusement as the bookcase wobbled, then shot forward and hit the floor so hard it flipped again, knocking over your piles of books and smashing into the desk against the opposite wall. Dust billowed up in massive clouds that made you cough, Cronus was still laughing and high fiving Meenah.   
“that was awesome” she commented, poking at the not shattered side of the solid wood bookcase with her boot  
“right...okay, well that’s one..way to do it.” you said, stepping on and over the bookcase to inspect the wall, it seemed solid enough, you knocked and pressed on it once more before frowning  
“it’s not behind this wall, I guess we’ll just have to check behind the-” you were cut off by the crashing sound of another bookshelf flying across the room, you turned to see Meenah standing proudly were a bookshelf was just seconds ago, and were the bookshelf now laid broken against the other side of the room.  
“how do you even do that?” you asked, throwing your hands into the air  
“I work out” she smiled and both of your heads turned to Cronus, who had begun quetly singing  
“girl look at that body, girl look at that body, ah, i work….” he caught the gaze of both your stares and he instantly looked away and mumbled the last word to the line, rubbing at the back of his neck  
“right”  
“I would laugh, but we are supposed to be finding a corpse” you said, and Cronus walked over to the new opening and phased into the wall, it was at least a good ten minutes before Cronus resurfaced   
“Cronus?”  
you asked him and he just shook his head, you decided not press the matter  
“right, next book-” you were once again cut off by a flying shelf  
“Meenah, you don’t have to do that for all of them you know” you commented looking at the last two standing shelves with pity  
“bullshit i don’t” she gave a laugh that more resembled a cackle as she phased into the wall backwards, so the last thing visible as she disspeared was a double thumbs up. She reappred a few seconds later, not out of the section she dissapeared in, but rather against the next book case, the bottom of the bookcase dragged against the floor as Meenah was still pressed against the back panel as it skittered and smashed hard against the wall, fragments exploding from the front frame where it connected, one hit the wall by where you were standing and thumped onto the floor, a ripping sound had every head turning towards the painting of the family, a shard had landed directly into Cronus’s fathers forhead.  
“Bullseye!” Meenah yelled, fist pumping the air  
“I got skills” she high fived herself and did a small vitory dance  
“Meenah, rude” Cronus said but he was smiling too  
“Meenah, was that really nessacary?” you asked  
“hell yeah, plus my body wasn’t there”  
“okay last bookcase”  
“can I do it?” Cronus asked walking to the side of the last standing bookcase  
(bees? bees.)  
“sure” Meenah said as you and her both moved out of the path of the bookcase  
Cronus phased into the wall and with a loud yell he came out of the wall, the bookcase flying forward from where he appeared. Cronus laughed as he watched the bookcase smash into the pile up going on in the middle of the room and topple onto the others, like a topper on a cake. Cronus just stared at the bookcase wreckage with a dopey grin on his face  
“you’re right, that was awesome, i now see why you break things in the house Nah” Meenah stared at him  
“well yeah, why else would i break things” she punctuated her sentence with a swift kick to to the top bookcase that made a split appear from top to bottom.   
“why do you call her nah anyway?” you asked, finally having curiosity for the nickname  
“because no one wants to hang out with her, it’s like ayye do you wanna hang out? pfft, nah” and Cronus earned a punch in the arm for that  
“it’s just shortened of my name is all” she shrugged and turned back to Cronus, who was rubbing at his arm  
“was I in there?”   
“”what? oh yeah, you’re in there” the two of them entered the wall and collected Meenah’s bones, pulling them back into the room where you were. She stared at them for a second before clapping her hands together loudly.   
“well shit y’all i guess it’s my turn to tell a story”  
~~~~~~

DC:

“so there I was, fightin this huge arse dragon on this big ass flying ship” Meenah started, waving her hands around  
“nah” Cronus said, Crossing his arms over his chest and taking a seat on top of the ruined bookshelves, you settled yourself on a lower shelf and waited for the real version of her story  
“okay, but the boat part was true, Me, you and good old uncle boat for brains were out on the lake, remember the lake Rosa took us to when we were little? that lake, we were on this stupid speedboat that uncle had gotten” she sighed and lowered herself so she was on the floor, leaning against the wall, one leg tucked against her chest, her hands became preoccupied with her braids  
“we made it out towards the islands in the middle, it was really hot that day, and i remember you were telling me a story about how that guy you liked had eaten forty hotdogs at school that day” Cronus smiled slightly  
“I remember that” Meenah smiled back and continue with her story  
“i leaned over the boats edge, not enough to fall or anyfin because i’m not the best swimma, but enough to reach the water, it was cool to dip your hand in while the boat was going, and then i felt a pair of hands on my shoulders, and the next thing i know, I’m in the water, sinking, sinking and i’m trying to figure out what happened, and i start trying to kick” Meenah has begin to undo the ends of her braids, her black hair in tight waves from where it came out of the braid  
“the thing about being underwater like that, is the further down you sink, the more everything seems calm, the light starts to fade out, you can’t hear anything, it's just you and the water, i would say it could almost being relaxing, but then your lungs start to burn, and your eyes start to burn, and every muscle you got starts to burn, and it’s painful, you open your mouth to try and get air, anything you can get, and you watch the bubbles, your lifeline, float out of you and above you while you feel the water flood your lungs” she wasn’t looking at either of you know, and had now switched to undoing the other braid as she talked  
“it’s scary, but at the same time you don't’ got time to be scared, i guess i oughta be thankful, in a twisted kind of way, that who eva pushed me” her eyes darted to The painting of Cronus’s father  
“pulled my body from the lake, and brought me back and hid me here” she had both braids undone, and she pulled all of her hair to the side as she stood, Meenah had always been a badass or kind of a bitch, but in that moment Meenah looked young, and you remembered that she was just a dead teenager, and that had to forty different shades of terrifying.   
“bein dead sucks an all, but hauntin at home with y’all was a shore lot beta than hauntin the bottom of a lake” she laughed softly and picked up the box containing the swordfish toy, she held against her chest and smiled at you and Cronus  
“well, i guess if they didn’t i would be swiimin with the fishes” and then she was gone, You and Cronus stared at the spot where she had been standing, Cronus broke the silence first with shaky laugh, you looked at him to find him laughing more steadily as tears ran down his face  
“that was beautiful” he smiled at where she had disappeared and wiped at the tears.   
“Kanny, Can we go take another nap?” Cronus asked, you agreed and climbed over the bookshelf tower to as Cronus phased through it, he met you at the door, neither of you crossed the threshold at first, Cronus turned and stared into the room  
“Goodbye Meenah” he whispered, and shut the door behind the both of you. you walked up the stairs behind Cronus, when you reached the hole in the stairs, he picked you up and floated over it  
“Bye Feferi” he whispered into your sweater as he floated over the hole, he set you down and you continued up the stairs. Making it to the main floor you heard Cronus whisper another goodbye in the direction of the ballroom. the two of you comped up the stairs and into Cronus’s room, the bed still messy from the nap earlier with Meenah. You toed off your shoes and slid under the covers, Cronus following suit, he crawled under the blankets and snuggled into them, and then he snuggled against you, his arm wrapped around your waist, you ended up on your back with Cronus laying on your chest. It was for the most part comfortable, and it became more relaxing as Cronus drifted to sleep, you whispered goodbyes too, you whispered Goodbye into the dark of the room and your blinking slowed and you finally gave into to the pull of sleep.


	20. Happy Holidays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *chanting in the background* filler filler filler   
> yeah, sorta filler chapter, holiday shanagins, and you get to see a little more how Muelin and Kurloz fir into the picture of our favorite ghost kid. The story is almost over tho

The weeks following Meenah’s disappearance dragged, but they slowly changed from quiet and awkward to more normal, even if the house didn’t change and stay unusually quiet most of the time, Cronus started feeling better. He sometimes would bury himself under the blankets on his bed while you read books to him, or you started bringing your laptop over and you watched movies together until one or both of you fell asleep. Things were pretty much back to as normal as they could be by the time christmas rolled around, You spent Christmas eve with your family and then slipped away with excuses about Porrim so you could spend Christmas day with Cronus. He ran down the stairs when you had opened the door and hugged you, he pulled back and stood there bouncing on his heels.   
“Cronus what are you” before he screamed   
“Christmas!” and thrusted a small soft object in your hand. Looking down, you found a red stuffed crab resting in your hands, one of his eyes was slightly off set, but he was still really cute. You hugged Cronus and dug in your bag to find the present you had gotten him, He directed you to the living room where he had stuck Christmas decorations on the wall, ranging from tree ornaments to paper santas. There was a fire going in the fireplace that made it warmer and happier than the rest of the house, you sat down on the couch and sighed at the warmth of the fire. It was snowing outside and cold everywhere.You had never been in this room for an amount of time, so you took your time looking around, staring at all the stiff, dusty paintings on the wall.  
Cronus came in and set two boxes on the table in between you, he settled lightly on the couch beside you, you turned and dug the small presents you had gotten him out of your bag. You set them on the table and pushed them towards Cronus, his face lit up just like it did when you had given him the toy when you had first become friends. He pushed the red box he had set on the table to you and you opened it, finding a box filled with Brownies and a note from Muelin.  
“hapurry holidays Kankri! I’ll leave these with Cronus, I think your brother ate them the last time i left them at your house” and was signed with a green cat face, You lifted one into your mouth as Cronus examined and began opening his first present. Biting into it, you understood what all the fuss was about. You let the somehow still warm Brownie set in your mouth for a second before swallowing and finishing the one you held. Cronus gasped and you looked over to see that he had unwrapped the phone you had gotten him.   
“kanny, this is insane” he commented, turning the package over to read the back  
“now you can talk to me whenever you need, I charged it and programmed in my number already” he looked up at you suddenly frowning  
“right, they have to charge” you pushed another of the boxes at Cronus and he unwrapped it to find a solar powered phone charger. He reverted back to his five year old excitement as he opened the phone and started playing with it. You showed him different things it could do, how to call on it and all of that, Then the two of you sat on the couch while Cronus played Christmas songs off youtube and ate brownies. You were halfway through your second round of jingle bell rock when There was a knock at the door. Both you and Cronus stopped and stared at each other, you stood and slowly made your way to the door. Cronus peeked through a Curtain before laughing and swinging the door open, on the porch stood Kurloz in a bright purple turtleneck and matching hat, and Muelin, with a bag thrown over her shoulder, in a green coat over her black dress, she waved, her hands covered with green mittens. Cronus moved back and you stared dumbfounded as they entered and both hugged Cronus like nothing was suspicious.   
“We didn’t know if you were going to be here or not, so we came to see Cronus” she rolled her tongue over his name as she hugged you, moving automatically into the living room and settling in front of the warmth of the fire, she began pulling oddly wrapped packages from the bag she was carrying. She made stacks as she sang along to the song, even reaching over to restart it when the song ended. You returned to your position on the couch, Kurloz and Cronus came in a few minutes later, all the experiences with hanging out with ghosts for the past year could not add up to strange this experience was. Kurloz sat on the other side of the table in the only arm chair as Muelin finished the stacks. Cronus settled in on the couch beside you, reaching into his own box and and munching on a brownie. Muelin adjusted so she was sitting cross legged on the floor, the fireplace lighting up behind her threw eery shadows off of her, she handed a package from each of the stacks to each of you before settling one in her lap, Kurloz opened his first, it was a box that held a little charm in it, he smiled and pulled a necklace from under his sweater and attached the charm, he slipped it back under and Muelin blew him a kiss before she turned towards you, you cautiously unwrapped your present and found a red sweater, you smiled and shrugged out of your jacket, you pulled the soft turtleneck on over your shirt  
“I knitted it meowself” Muelin said when you had gotten it on, it was really comfortable.  
“Thank you Muelin” the combined effort of the fire and the sweater, the chill you had since you stepped out of your warm house was finally chased away. You turned in time to see Cronus finnish unwrapping his present, it was a orange book, he glanced at Muelin who nodded and he opened it to the first page, a small choked noise instantly came out of his throat. You leaned over to see a picture of Cronus, Meenah, Feferi, and Eridan flanked on each side by a smiling Kurloz and Muelin, the balcony doors behind them were open to let in light for the picture and you could see a wall of green outside.   
“From last easter” Muelin Commented, Cronus smiled at her sadly and flipped through the rest of the pages, filled with Pictures of everyone from various holidays, including ones from last Christmas, even one from the fourth of july, Meenah and the kids sat on the top balcony with their legs hanging off, the picture panned out enough that you could see the exploding firework in the sky. there were more pictures, Cronus did not reach the end of the book before he had to stop to wipe at the tears on his face. Kurloz reached over and wrapped an arm around Cronus and pulled him into a brief hug, When they pulled back, Muelin handed Kurloz another present and motioned him out of the room before taking his chair. She kept passing out presents, including Kurloz in the rotation when he returned. He took her place in front of the fireplace, the light making him more creepy looking than Muelin had been with the jaunty angles of his face. The presents continued on until the piles had disappeared, Muelin dug around in her coat and made everyone squish together on the sofa. She produced a camera and after playing with the settings for a minute, propped it on the mantelpiece facing the couch, she ran quickly and the beeping began a countdown, She made it behind the couch and got into position, the light flashed and she ran over to it.   
“That’s a good picture” she commented showing all of you, the picture looked a little empty compared to the ones you had just been looking at in the book, Cronus seemed to think that too even as he hugged Muelin. Everyone returned to their respective seats and Cronus started up the christmas music again, so the night continued with singing that got progressively more horrible as time wore on. Eventually Kurloz left with the promise of hot chocolate and real food, since the boxes of brownies had been eaten. Cronus got up and messed with the fire and Muelin took his spot on the couch beside you. You two walked about school stuff and normal life things like you all hadn’t shown up to spend christmas with a dead guy, Kurloz returned with all kinds of foods, ranging from s'more stuff and pumpkin pie to a bag of cheeseburgers, and lots of hot chocolate and soda. It turned out to be a fun night, like a big surprise sleepover, Muelin and Cronus ended up building a blanket for upstairs, so you all nested in and started making s'mores while the three of you swapped stories, Kurloz occasionally chiming in and Muelin translating the sign language for him. you honestly thought it was the best christmas you had ever had.   
~~  
You spent new years with Cronus, and as apparently most holidays, Muelin and Kurloz showed up. Muelin brought dozens of light up balloons, and after the countdown to the new year, you all blew them up and played the biggest game of don’t let the balloon touch the floor you had ever seen. You had it going on in the foyer, but eventually moved it to the ballroom because of people kept bumping into the stairs, with a little encouragement, Cronus entered the ballroom, and slowly relaxed the longer he was in there, you understood his hesitation of wanting to be in this room but after a few rounds of the game things were okay again. Muelin brought dinner and all of you gathered around the table, celebrating the new year. A snowball fight followed, until you were all cold and Cronus made a fire in the fireplace that you three sat around, soaking up as much of the heat as you could as Cronus floated above you guys and cracked jokes about how ghosts don’t get cold. Muelin tossed a mitten at him and he laughed, You had settled into this new routine, and for the most part it didn’t seem like Either Kurloz and Muelin had brought up your mutual friend to the rest of your group of friends, But Porrim had questioned you several times about your sudden close knit friendship with two of the strangest people in your friends group, You shrugged it off with commentary of mutual interest, and man you really hope this wasn’t going to come back to haunt you.


	21. My Bad Meulin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can you guess who it is? >:B

The search for Cronus’s body proved to be more frustrating than you had ever imagined, you checked rooms again and again, searching every square inch of floor and walls you could reach, You wanted to scream. Cronus assured you time and time again that it was okay, you’d find him eventually, but you felt bad that he had to wait to so long when all his family is already gone. You felt guilty, You had called Meulin and asked if her and Kurloz could come help you search today, they showed up around ten pm with bags of snacks, flashlights, batteries and a axe.   
“Kurloz why do you have a axe, where did you even get a axe?” you asked in amazement as he carried it through the door, he just grinned widely before laying it down along with his bags on the dining room table. You shrugged off the chill that had followed the pair into the room, adjusted the sweater you got for christmas and started explaining to them where in the house you had searched, Meulin handed you and Cronus a pack of fruit snacks and wandered off in the direction you had already searched. Cronus followed to help, popping the snacks in his mouth and chewing as he talked. Kurloz had made himself comfortable on the table, sitting crossed legged and straight backed. he motioned for you to be quiet before you even asked what he was doing, he stayed that way for several long minutes, until it appeared he had stopped breathing as he sat completely still, even after Cronus and Meulin returned nearly an hour later. She shrugged out of her coat and tossed it on the table next to her bag, passing by Kurloz without a second glance. her brow furrowed as she thought out something in her head, Muein looked tired, and you briefly wondered how long it had been since she had slept. You brushed the thought off but reminded yourself of another that had been brewing at the back of your mind.   
“So, while i think about it, Meulin, if you didn’t give me sage, what did you give me?” she turned towards you frowning slightly, it was rare for Meulin to frown and you instantly felt like you had passed into bad territory.   
“It was sweetgrass, it’s good for the ghosts” she looked out one of the tore open windows and clicked her tongue  
“But why did you tell me it was sage” she turned around and you took a step back  
“because the sage doesn’t work” the reply came out a little harsher than she had intended and she winced but didn’t apologize.  
“How did you know the sage wouldn’t work?” you asked, feeling like you should shut up but sometimes talking is just a bad habit of yours.   
“Don’t you think we tried, everything we could absolutely think of, when Kurloz and I found about the ghosts” Meulin took a step towards you  
“Don’t you think, that it broke my heart to know that there were kids here, i wanted to do all i could for them, I tried, I tried sage, I tried seances, I tried cleanses and i even once attempted to burn down the house” her words gradually became more hysterical, you realized you had definitely brought up a sore subject for Meulin as she kept talking, you saw Cronus nod in agreement at the last sentence, something he apparently remembered.   
“Do you know how many times I begged Kurloz to travel to the other side to see if he could help, he came and talked to them, all of them, he talked to everyone he could think of, and being over there is so dangerous, don’t you think we looked for the bodies Kankri, we looked for a whole year before we just started trying to make the kid’s afterlife as comfortable as possible” Meulin's anger turned quickly into tears, making her words catch, Cronus appeared behind her and wrapped her in a hug, she turned and cried silently into his chest.   
“We tried so hard, I’m sorry Cronus” You went to step towards her, to try and patch up the mess you had just caused when Kurloz appeared in front of you, hands out stretched to stop you from moving in her direction. He instead nodded to Cronus and directed you to the main foyer.   
“I’m going to take Meulin home” he signed  
“I’m sorry i didn’t mean to make her upset” Kurloz shook his head and signed an explanation  
“She hasn’t slept in three days, this morning she cried over burning the pancakes, it’s okay, she’ll be okay” he glanced back towards the dining room  
“plus i needed a distraction” he pointed upwards  
“there's something way up, can’t travel that far away, so i’m not sure what” he signed and made a soft sigh noise. You nodded and started thinking about the floor plan. Meulin came out then, her face was drying  
“I’m sorry kankitty, i didn’t mean to blow up like that” You hugged Meulin and she giggled before slinging her bag over her shoulder  
“I left you the snacks and the flashlights, you’ll purrbably need them” She patted your face before stepping out the door towards their car, Kurloz frowning at walking out after her with a nod towards you.   
“Wow kanny, real smooth with the ladies” Cronus joked stiffly, you brushed past him to retrieve a flashlight and head upstairs  
“Cronus will you start with the bottom floors please?” you asked him, wanting to check out whereever up was. You heard Cronus shuffle around before commenting   
“yeah sure, one of these days we’ll fix those stairs” he shrugged and disappeared into the floor, you climbed the steps to the third floor and after checking several rooms, you located the trap door in the hallway that led to what had to be an attic. You sighed and the horror movie cliche ness of it and lowered the ladder. You pulled yourself up and shone the light around the attic, it looked like more storage space. sheets covered piles of chairs and even in the far corner there was a dusty but still shining large chandelier. you didn’t even want to begin to wonder how it got up here, Looking around the large attic, you found more furniture, a few paintings of scenes that deserved to be covered, you found nothing until you reached the end. while shining the flashlight on different things, you shown the light across a mirror resting against the wall and it appeared on the ceiling, at first you thought it was a trick of the light but no, you shone the light onto the ceiling directly above you and stared in wonder at the set of six boards that looked like they had been ripped out the hastily nailed back in place. dozens of nails stuck out in awkward angles,most bent and a few even broken. You stared for a minute longer before climbing down and going to retrieve the axe, Grabbing it and exiting the dining room again, you made a mental note to thank Kurloz for his scary preparedness and also a side note to never anger Kurloz, if he freaked you out while you two were on the same side of things you didn’t even want to begin to imagine what would happen if he was an enemy. You shuddered before shaking it off and stepping up to the ladder, tossing the axe awkwardly into the attic, you grabbed a rung and heaved yourself up. You were just climbing back into the attic when you heard your name being called from at least the ground floor. You pulled yourself up and leaned your head out of the attic hole.   
“I’m in the attic Cronus!” you called out before walking back to the end, you set your flashlight so it shown on the spot of boards and you started swinging, the upward angle making in an awkward task but you manage to get away one board. Another came loose and the rest jarred with it, it looked like one or two more swings would get it, you were mid swing when you heard your name directly behind you, you turned in panicked horror to find karkat standing behind you in the attic  
“Karkat, what the hell are you doing here!?!?!” you asked, dropping the axe to your side.   
“I followed you, took me a while but i’m here, more importantly, what the hell are you doing here?!” you opened your mouth to respond as you heard a loud crack noise above you and you felt the whoosh of air as the ceiling collapsed onto the floor behind you. Karkat’s expression from staring at you with confused anger, to staring behind you with absolute terror. You turned slowly to see that a set of bones had indeed fallen from the ceiling. You moved closer to look, ignoring Karkat freaking out behind you. These bones looked too big to belong to a teenager, you were about to voice this when you heard a deep, unknown thick accented voice come from your side.   
“Hey Kid”


	22. MMMM WHATCHA SAY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> www.youtube.com/watch?v=thhaf-bKWyg A song for you while you feel. hold on folks, its about to get *jazz hands* Dramatic

You turned your head to see a tall, gruffly male standing between you and the chandelier that rested in the corner, your sentence was interrupted by Karkat’s sputtering  
“Kankri, kankri!” Karkat began to flail his arms in the direction of the bones, you turned halfway towards him and frowned  
“Karkat, don’t be rude” you turned back towards the male and upon closer inspection realized you recognized him, Ignoring Karkat continuing to flip out in the background.   
“Your’e?...” you started, just now realizing you were entirely sure what his name was  
“Dualscar, Cronus’s father” He said, the accent thick on his words, You glanced between the ceiling, the bones and the ghost standing before you repeatedly, waiting for him to say anything of an explantation.   
“I take it ya didn’t know i was here” he glanced around you to your brother, who was now wheezing and leaning against a covered piece of furniture.   
“No I didn’t,” You were once again cut off by Karkat’s voice behind you, panic made it jump several octaves up as he talked  
“Kankri is thAT GUY THE BONES, ARE YOU TALKING TO A GHOST?!?!?” Karkat’s tone began increasingly more high pitched until he was standing there frantically glancing between the body and the ghost.  
“Karkat, don’t interrupt me, And don’t be so loud, with yelling like that you’ll wake the dead” you turned again to Dualscar, who had released a small snicker and was grinning in your direction. You realized what you said and stopped, mentally papping yourself, You decided that you had definitely been around Cronus too much, his sense of humor was wearing off on you. You shook the thought of your head and returned your attention to the task at hand.   
“I guess I should start with, when the others disappeared, they all told me what happened to them..” The grin instantly faded from the man's face, He looked briefly confused and then a look of what you could only describe as pure guilt.   
“The others, moved on?” You nodded and he glanced towards the on the other side of you.  
“Well, Almost all of them..” Dualscar focused on you again, waiting for further explanation  
“Cronus is still here, we can’t find his body” You heard Karkat make a choked noise behind you and start mumbling in a variety of quiet tones.   
“That don’t surprise me, boy was late for everything”  
“Uhh, what?”   
“nevermind, Anyway, did the others go okay? did they remember anything?” you wasn’t sure how to respond, the worried tone in his face and voice making you feel kinda bad for the dude.   
“They, uh, remembered everything after we found their bodies...” Your sentence was punched by Karkats mumbling growing more confused and louder. Dualscar ran a hand through his hair and sighed  
“Well shit”  
“The others, told me what happened..do you wanna maybe, tell your side?” you asked tentatively, he heaved a deep sigh again and nodded after thinking for a minute  
“yeah, maybe if you wanna, you can pass some of it on to Cronus, maybe he won’t fully hate me”   
“Maybe” you added quietly, he paused before continuing  
“Alright, so i guess i should start off by saying that, In my life i did a lot of things for my older sister, i would have done anything for her, a lot of them i ain't so proud of, When Feferi died, it was rough, it seemed the only one who wasn’t affected was my sister, She made me hide the body, she didn’t want to deal with it, which became my job really, cleaning up her messes… Then Eridan, God it killed me to find Eridan that day” he had begun pacing around in a tight line as he spoke  
“Then she made me hide him, And kill Meenah, and What she made me do to Cronus, my boy” He began getting more and more angry, he stopped long enough to slam his hand against the wall, He resumed pacing, Karkat now glued firmly to your arm and freaking the literal fuck out. Karkat was trying to pull you towards the trap door but you shrugged him off.   
“And that sick bitch actually kept the Chandelier he fucking hung himself from” His voice rose in anger again as he slammed his foot into the glass chandelier and you watched as it broke and parts of it even shattered.   
“THEN” he turned towards you and was screaming, making hand motions with the story, Karkat was clutching the back of your sweater and making whining noises, shaking. You were a little afraid too at this point as he crossed in front of you and past you, punching the window and you winced as the glass shattered, he resumed his yelling and pacing  
“THAT BITCH FUCKING SHOT ME, HER OWN FUCKING BROTHER, AND THE BITCH. FUCKING. SHOT. ME” He stood there, chest heaving before he visibly calmed down and rolled his shoulders.  
“But I guess that’s how it goes, And she's still out there, living it up” He grunted and turned so he was staring out the freshly broken window.   
“Where is Cronus?” you asked, really hoping it didn’t set him off again, his face scrunched up in anger as he glanced at you, before it turned into a bitter expression and he said very stiffly, turning to stare out the window again, but then stepping forward so he overlooked the yard.  
“You’re a smart kid, you’ll figure it out” and he faded away, Leaving just you and a still squealing Karkat alone in the attic. You moved to stare out the window as he had done, Karkat finally finding his voice   
“KANKRI WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, WHY ARE YOU BEING SO CASUAL ABOUT THIS WHO WAS THAT WHO IS CRONIS WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON” You listened to him drone on as you stared into the yard, Your gaze drifted to the oddly placed Rose bushes when it hit you, you snapped your fingers and yelled with excitement  
“The rose bushes!” you ran past Karkat who was stunned  
“WHAT ABOUT THE ROSE BUSHES” he yelled after you as you slid down the ladder, Karkat suddenly yelling   
“DONT LEAVE ME HERE” before scrambling after you, you had made it down one staircase and was halfway down another, Karkat stumbling along behind you when Cronus appeared.   
“Hey Kanny I didn’t..Where you going?” You rushed past Cronus and threw a   
“Cronus, yard, now!” you head a “yeah okay” and by the screams of karkat, you guessed Cronus had faded either really close to him, or right beside him. Karkat followed after you calling your name, by the time you flung open the back door Cronus stood already waiting for you.   
“Alright Kanny, where the fire?” he asked, You stopped and pulled your sweater off over your head, thankful for the cool air after the run you just had. Tossing it to the side, you panted to Cronus  
“You, bushes” Cronus stared at you for a second in confusion before looking at the rose bushes  
“SHOVEL” you yelled and pushed him towards the shed, leaning on your knees as you stood panting for air. Karkat was doing the same action until Cronus faded into the shed, Karkat yelped and fell back onto the ground.   
“Okay, okay” he appeared several seconds later with several shovels, you grabbed one and began tearing into the ground surrounding the nearest rose bush.  
“Do you get what he's doin?” Cronus asked Karkat, who was still huddled on the ground, he scooted away when Cronus spoke, you eventually got your breath back enough to turn towards Cronus.   
“you’re under a rose bush” Cronus Brightened instantly and jumped in to help, the two of you shoveling away at the bushes until it was completely uprooted. You tossed the shovel to the side when it hit something hard and you knelt down, shoving your hands into the dirt. You felt several loose bones and you pulled several to the surface, one of them appeared broken, you turned towards Cronus who was looking away, his eyes covered.   
“Is it me? please let it be me, don’t let Miss Rosa be out here” He asked you, glancing around to assure that he was indeed, the only ghost, you turned towards him again and rolled the broken bone in your hand.   
“No, it’s you alright, But I got some bad news” Cronus peeked between his fingers but didn’t take them away from his face  
“What is it?”  
“Cronus, you’re under all the rose bushes”


	23. Cut My life into Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Almost the last chapter and then bc reasons, Alt ending, Two chapters left, ARE YOU READY????

That Cronus stood exactly in the same spot he had been before you closed your eyes. Frowning when he realized he still existed too, he glanced down and threw his hands up  
“Isn’t this how it works!? what the hell” You didn’t even got an opportunity to comment on Cronus’s language before he continued asking questions. He stopped mid sentance and stared at you  
“This was what the others did, right? why did it work for them?”   
“Maybe there wasn’t enough emotion? I mean your dad seemed pretty upset about the whore ordeal” Cronus turned towards you, his expression a mix between confusion and taken aback.   
“My dad?”  
“we met daddy dearest in the attic” Karkat huffed sarcastically, you shot him a look before returning to your conversation with Cronus.   
“Yes, we met your father upstairs, it would seem that after the death of the four of you, he couldn’t handle it, and your aunt shot him” Cronus stared at you for a second before turning his gaze up towards the attic window that overlooked the yard.   
“How come we never seen him?”   
“Because he didn’t want you too?” you offered in response, Cronus returning to sit beside you. You heard rustling and looked around Cronus to see Karkat had pulled the book Kurloz gave you out of your bag  
“Karkat what are you doing?” you asked, making Cronus turn his attention to the younger boy, who held a finger as he turned the pages very quickly before reading.   
“Correcting you idiots” Karkat stood up, shutting the book and tossing it to you before pulling the sleeves of his sweater down over his hand.   
“What happens if one of the ghosts goes out of burial bounds?” Karkat asked, looking into your sweater, which still sat on the porch with the various bits of Bones in it, Cronus explained what happened and Karkat Listened intently, you were still lost however, as apparently so was Cronus as Karkat reached down with his sweater covered hand and after a sharp, dry crackling sound came up with a small finger bone in his hand.   
“Woah there, i may not be able to feel it but be gentle with an old bag o bones like me” Cronus stood and Karkat jumped off the porch. he stood and waited by the corner of the house, staring until you both rose from the porch and followed him around the house. Karkat stepped onto the road just past the yard, holding out the bone towards you, You took it in your hand before stepping over to join him.   
“Will you please explain what you’re doing?” you asked him, he sighed and stared at you  
“Did you read nothing in that book?” you shrugged your shoulders  
“I read the parts i thought were important” you said kinda stiffly, Karkat gestured towards Cronus  
“Yeah, the book also said the ghosts exist because they are attached to something, like a house, or a body, or if i’m correct, a person” Karkat sounded like he was bored and annoyed with the situation, his tone reminding you of one a teacher would use if he hated what he was teaching about.   
“What do you mean?” Cronus took a step forward, now right against the edge of the front yard  
“Step out” Karkat took a step back so he would have plenty of room  
“Lil Chief, I ain't so sure that’s a good idea...” he mumbled, looking at the pavement.   
“For fucks sake, step out of the goddamn yard or i will push you out” Karkat snapped  
“Karkat, language!” you scolded but Karkat rolled his eyes, Cronus closed his eyes again and took a deep breath, wincing as he stepped over the line and onto the road. You held your breath in anticipation, waiting for the shakes to start. But when nothing happened You both sighed and he laughed, Looking down at the ground then spinning around, yelping with joy.   
“I’m out of the yaaaarddd, uhuhuh” he sang in a manner that was just plain embarrassing to witness, You were especially thankful that no one else was on the street as Cronus began jumping from street to yard chanting  
“IN THE YARD, OUTTA THE YARD, IN THE YARD, OUTTA THE YARD” he stopped and stepped back into the street when Karkat snapped some reprimandable language at Cronus and he stood still, still grinning.   
“So there you go, You’ve become attached to Kankri instead of your bones, congrats” Karkat gave a round of sarcastic jazzhands with the end of the sentence  
“So, I can’t move on?” Cronus asked and both you and Karkat shrugged  
“We could go talk to Kurloz” You suggested, not happy about returning to his and Meulin’s home   
“Think they could help?” Karkat let out another sigh and ran his hands through his hair, pulling at it frustration. He began walking down the street not waiting for you two  
“If they can, we’ll find out, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can pretend this never happened, I am going to need so much therapy after this” You and Cronus fell in step behind Karkat, Who made it only a few more steps before smacking his forehead with his hand and turning around  
“Why are we walking Kankri, You drove here” You remembered that you indeed drive here, Cronus returned to the back porch to get your bag, you dug out your keys and unlocked it just as Cronus yelled   
“SHOTGUN” and ran towards the car, Karkat climbed into the back with an eyeroll. You fought a smile as you climbed into the driver seat and pulled away from the house. The silence in the car was a increasingly awkward between a giddy Cronus who had his face pressed against the window pointing out things that weren’t there last time he had been here and Karkat sulking in the back.  
“OHohohoh! Kanny look! That was a library when I was alive!” Cronus exclaimed pointing at a multi story shop.   
“Oh, and that was a playground! I scraped my knee falling out the swings there” he explained as you passed a house, and he kept on until you reached your destination.   
“And I thought my house was creepy” Cronus commented as he took in the oddly painted door and the surrounding buildings. You did admit, in the setting sun, the shadows thrown eerily, it was unsettling. Which wasn’t a hard feeling to find around Muelin and Kurloz. Just as last time, Meulin opened the door before you could even knock, She stopped her greeting when She seen Cronus, Her smile Faded and she backed slightly behind the door.   
“Kur!Kurloz!!” She yelled into the apartment, Kurloz appeared seconds later, a panicked expression on his face at her tone, catching sight of who was at the door, Kurloz smiled and stepped out, hugging both you and Cronus each in one arm. Cronus embraced the strange man back but you didn’t make more of an attempt that patting his shoulder, Meulin opened the door wider and waved you all in.   
“You must be Karkitty, I’ve heard so much about mew!” Meulin said when Karkat passed through the doorway, She smiled at him as he passed by her, clearly uncomfortable.   
“So, As you can see we’ve reached a little hiccup in Cronus moving on” You began, glancing to find Cronus fiddling with the Various knickknacks on the shelves. Kurloz began signing to him While Meulin asked you questions.   
“Did you find his bones, all of them?” when you nodded she continued  
“Where was he, no wait, don’t tell me yet, because I know i’m going to be mad I didn’t think to look there” She waved her hand dismissively before picking up a cup of tea and taking a sip. she swirled the green liquid in the cup thoughtfully before looking up at you again  
“He should still be attached to his body somehow, are you carrying one of his bones?” She asked, and you pulled out and presented the bone finger that Karkat had broken off. She took it carefully from your hand before retrieving a chain from a black box on the mantle beside her. Connecting the bone to the chain, she slipped it over your head.   
“Well, I can’t think of anything to do, can mew dear?” She pipped a pun at Kurloz, who apparently just finished a conversation with Cronus, signed something to her and she frowned  
“We are not killing Kankitty” You took a step back and raised your hands, Both Kurloz and Cronus cracked a smile and she giggled  
“So you got nothing either” he nodded and shrugged, signing to you  
“Stuck with i  
“So Cronus is literally attached to Kankri, like till death do they part, crap like that?” Karkat exclaimed in a new wave of horror, Meulin nodded  
“It’ll be like having another older brother, isn’t that fun?” Karkat laid his face against the wall and made fake sobbing noises  
You tucked the chain and bone into your sweater and waited by Karkat who was angry as Meulin fussed over him While Cronus finished up his conversation with Kurloz. When he came over to where you waited by the door, You quickly urged him out while Meulin and Kurloz waved, Climbing in to the car you rested your forehead against the steering wheel.   
“Well, I guess we have no option but to go home” Karkat sputtered in the background while Cronus became so excited he started bouncing in his seat slightly  
“Like, your house?” You nodded and turned the car onto the road   
“Yes Cronus, My house”   
“I’m gonna get to see your house! that’s so awesome, I’ve always wondered what your house would look like, not that i’ve spent like hours imagining what your house would look like or anything” Cronus continued the nervous chatter, Trying several times to talk to Karkat, who ignored him and stared out the window. You warned Cronus when you got to your street, and Cronus stared out the window at Each passing house  
“When I was alive, this was all woods” He mused, You didn’t comment as you pulled into your driveway and shut the car off. Getting out, You heard Cronus let out a “huh” noise as he leaned against the car, staring at the house.   
“I honestly thought it would be smaller”   
”What’s that supposed to mean?” Karkat snapped at him, storming up the front walk and into the house, you had made it halfway up the walk when Karkat leaned out of his window.   
“And stay the fuck outta my room!” before slamming his window shut again  
you heard Cronus grumble “No promises” as he walked behind you, walking into the foyer of your house, you slipped off your shoes and put them underneath the bench by the door, Cronus walked around the first couple of rooms, looking intently at the family photos on the walls, all the various things on the shelves, Cronus even got excited at the flat screen television that was Karkat’s main source of entertainment.   
“This is such a cool house” he looked through the curtains into the backyard, you stood by the stairs  
“Cronus, i’m going up to my room, are you coming?” you heard the sound of running and Cronus appeared around the corner  
“Yes” he said excitingly, walking so close to you on the stairs he bumped into you several times, You reached the top landing and turned the doorknob to your room, letting the door swing open you walked in and began setting down the things you were carrying. Cronus stood in the doorway taking in every inch of the neat room  
“It’s so…….Organized...” You decided to take that as a compliment as you shuffled around your room, pulling folded things out of drawers.   
“I need a shower, make yourself comfortable” you left Cronus in your room as you traveled down the hall for a well earned shower, Letting the hot water relax you as you thought about what to do now.   
Getting out you changed into sweatpants and a tanktop, brushing your hair before returning to your room, You found Cronus sitting on the floor, still turning to look at the various posters and pictures on your wall, he was humming to himself.   
“What song is that?” you asked, making him jump when you came in  
“Just somefin i wrote, Your room is so neat Kanny, my house must of drove you crazy”   
“A little at first, but the fact that your house was dusty was hardly the main concern” you flopped down onto your bed and turned towards Cronus  
“Why are you sitting on the floor?” He didn’t move for a minute before saying very quietly   
“I didn’t wanna mess anything up” he tapped his fingers together slowly, You stood up and yanked the blanket down so it was bunched up at the bottom.   
“Come here” Cronus sat on the bed next to you  
“Better?” You smiled when Cronus nodded, Leaning back against the pillows, scooting over so Cronus could lay down too, he shrugged out of his jacket and shoes before shuffling pillows around.   
“Cronus, do you want some pajamas?” Cronus glanced down at his jeans and tshirt  
“Honestly i’m not even sure if I can change clothes, I’ve never tried” You stood up and grabbed a baggier pair of pajamas and shirt, handing them to Cronus before stepping outside into the hallway, You froze when you heard footsteps on the stairs, your dad appearing on the landing and smiled when he seen you  
“Hey champ, what are you doin?” You returned his smile awkwardly   
“Just standing in the hallway” Before your dad could ask why you felt your heart sink a little when your dad gasped and his gaze shifted to the door beside you, glancing you seen that Cronus had phrased his head through the door  
“Hey kanny I’m done chan…...” he stopped when he seen your dad  
“Hey, I’m Cronus” Cronus stepped fully out the door, he looked strange to you in your pajamas, Cronus stuck his hand out towards your dad, which your dad shook very slowly  
“I’m Kankri’s father…..” He stood there for a minute before releasing Cronus’s hand  
“Well then, I’m going to bed” he said in a disturbingly cheerful voice  
“Do you want me to explain in the morning?” You called after him as he moved down the hallway  
“Going to bed!” he called over his shoulder before quickly shutting and you’re pretty sure locking his bedroom door. You sighed and pinched the bridge of your nose  
“Oh good god” you opened your door and entered, Cronus behind you and shutting the door behind you  
“He seems nice” Cronus commented climbing back into bed  
“Cronus I think you just broke my father” You climbed into your bed, nudging Cronus over so you could both lay comfortably. It was silent for a moment before Cronus started and moved around like he was trying to get up  
“I left the lights on, sorry” you pushed him back to his side of the bed  
“Calm down before you end up crushing me, and don’t worry, I did that a lot when I was younger so i talked dad into getting me and Karkat clappers” Cronus looked at you and crinkled his nose  
“Kanny what the hell is a clapper, sounds like something you should see a doctor for”  
“No, Cronus, no, that’s the clap, I mean a clapper” you held your hands above you and clapped twice, the lights flicked twice before going off completely.   
“Wow, now that’s impressive” Cronus let out a whistle before adjusting the blanket over you both again  
“Goodnight Cronus” you said, rolling over  
“Goodnight Kanny”


	24. Rosa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it, it's the end, We want to thank all of you for sticking with us through this, it's been a pretty crazy road to ruin here, we loved having you all and hope to see you all again in our future works. Thanks for everything <3  
> ~Mary and Zaiden  
> ~~"LexxieKra"

The next morning, your father pulled you aside after breakfast when Cronus wandered off to explore your house  
“what do I do? Does he eat, does he need to learn how to drive? it’s like suddenly having a third son i don’t know what to do”  
“No he’s good, he just kinda follows me around”  
“That’s creepy”  
“Well he kinda has to, I have his bone around my neck” your father made a face and pulled back slightly when you produced the aforementioned bone from the depths of your sweater  
“is that a human bone?” you nodded and tucked it back into our sweater, your father shuddered and resumed cleaning up from breakfast, casting nervous glances towards where Cronus had wandered off to.  
~~  
Several weeks had passed and your family was having an interesting time adjusting to living with a ghost,Karkat was still extremely jumpy and was still easily startled by Cronus,however your father had accepted it, and he and Cronus actually got along fairly well, you found them sitting on the floor together flipping through an old yearbook, you caught the end of the conversation   
“oh man remember that carnival that came through in 93? they called the cops” Cronus laughed and you father leaned towards him  
“you know why right?”   
“because some kid threw a pie at the clown guy”  
“yeah, that was me” your father said with a voice filled with pride, and Cronus laughed  
“that was awesome”   
You had never thought about how Cronus and your father would be pretty close in age,even if Cronus did die at seventeen. You caught them at several times like this, once even finding the hallway filled with old photographs from the attic and the both of them picking up various photos and sharing some story about it. You were glad that they got along, but that joy was short lived since today you were going to let Cronus meet Porrim. Which is where you are right now, sitting in your car in her driveway with Cronus in the passenger seat, turning off the car you learned your forehead against the steering wheel before turning your head to stare down your best friend.  
“Alright, Cronus. Porrim cannot know under any circumstances know that you are a ghost, that you are dead, nothing”   
“Okay Kanny” Cronus smiled at you before leaning forward to stare at Porrims house.   
“Cronus I am serious”   
“I get it kanny, no wailing, no rattling of the chains”   
“Cronus!” he laughed and held up his hands  
“I’ll behave I promise” Cronus said opening the car door and getting out, you flung your door open a little harder than you intended and once you closed it you patted your car apologetically and lead Cronus up the walk, where after ringing the bell, Porrim swung the door open and smiled  
“Kanny, it’s been too long since you’ve been over, Cmon i-whos this?” Porrim stared behind you, you moved out the way   
“Porrim this is Cronus, Cronus, Porrim” they shook hands and Cronus flashed one of his overly smug smiles  
“Cronus, Kankri’s friend, gotta tell you Porrim i’ve been dyin to meet you” You instantly buried your face in your hands and sighed, Porrim laughed   
“Kanny are you okay?” she opened the door wider so you could shuffle past her  
“Yes, i’m just going to kill Cronus” Cronus followed her into the house, spinning around long enough to mouth at you “too late” and give you double hand pistols. You rolled your eyes and followed in, settling yourself in the familiar green living room, Porrim and Cronus followed, he sat next to you on the couch while she she sat in the chair, tucking her legs under her. Checking her phone before setting on table  
“Sorry, mom’s supposed to be here with groceries soon”  
as if on cue, you heard a car pull pull in followed by a horn blasting  
“There she does it again, i’ll be right back” Porrim opened the front door and disappeared, Cronus had pulled out his phone and was busying himself with a game when through the open front door entered an older version of Porrim. she stopped and moved the few strands of short slightly gray black hair that had found their way onto her face  
“Kankri, it’s been too long, I’m so glad that you’ve come back, I’m making you favorite for dinner, Is this the friend Porrim told me about?....” the bags dropped from her hands, you flinched when you heard the sound of several things in the bag breaking, at the breaking sound Cronus glanced up from his phone and a look of complete surprise filled his face. You watched in awestruck horror as Porrim’s mother began to cry  
“Cronus?” she said, he stood up and slowly walked towards her  
“Hey Rosa” you felt a wave of surprise hit you as you realized what was happening, Rosa flung her arms around Cronus and began crying onto his shoulder  
“I thought you were dead, the kids, Meenah, I...how are you here, why do you still look like you did when i left, oh god i’m so sorry i left, i’m so sorry” she continued apologizing until her words just kind of jumbled together with her crying, Cronus hugged her back and as soon as she had calmed down a little he pulled her back  
“It’s okay Rosa, it’s not your fault, and yeah, I am dead, but it’s not so bad, I got to meet Kankri, and I got to see you again, and hey, I get to be fine as hell forever” Cronus mock flexed and Rosa laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.   
“What about the others? what happened to them?” Cronus stared down at the floor before smiling at her and saying gently  
“they’re happy, and safe” she smiled and wiped at her face   
“thanks to Kanny anyways” You felt a blush creep up your face as Rosa looked over at you, she walked over and made it worse by kissing your forehead   
“thank you for taking care of them when I couldn’t” she straightened up and frowned, glancing between you both  
“Are you not moving on then?”  
“I don’t need to, i’m already happy” he shrugged and smiled, you stood and helped Cronus and Rosa gather the fallen bags and put everything away, the whole time Rosa telling stories or asking Cronus questions, you remained silent and let them have their moment when you heard the doorbell ring. confused, you left the kitchen and opened the door to find Porrim loaded heavily with bags and also carrying two gallons of milk and several cases of soda.  
“Porrim, why?...” she smiled and scooted past you, calling over her shoulder  
“two trips are for pussies, Kankri” she said smoothly as she disappeared behind the kitchen door, leaving you holding open the door and and staring as the door swung, giving you glimpses of your mismatch family laughing. 

THE MOTHERFUCKING END <3


End file.
